Iron Man (Cinderella style)
by dragonrider1234
Summary: Pepper Potts has been made a servant in her own home, with no escape in sight. But will a masquerade party held by Stark Industries changes her fate, especially when she meets the one himself. I haven't found a story like this so here it is, updates will come out depending on reviews.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **Hey there guys, this is Fire Dragon here with a whole new story. Don't mix me up with my sister Starla, because we are very different. So this next story is going to be a Cinderella story, but with the Iron Man characters and in the modern time period. This first chapter is a test to see if the idea works. Please review and comment (I NEED SUPPORT!). Thank-you, enjoy the story.

**Pepper Potts**

**By: Fire Dragon**

It was just another ordinary day for Pepper Potts. She has to wake up before the sun rises to make breakfast _and_ lunch for her family, as well as do all of her morning chores, before heading off to work at Stark Industries as an accountant.

It wasn't always like this, though; she used to be the princess in her father's eyes, the crown jewel in his art collection. That is until he decided to marry again to Agatha, who both she and her father thought was the nicest woman they had ever met. Pepper's mom died due to childbirth, so she never knew her. Agatha also had two daughters, who are just Pepper's age, named Darla and Artemis.

However, darkness soon came upon the family when, Pepper's father was diagnosed with cancer, and died weeks later, leaving Pepper all alone. It was this untimely death that the stepmother's true feelings appeared, she was very jealous of Pepper and all of her amazing talents and beauty. So she maid Pepper a servant in her own home, forcing her to cook, clean, and organize the household after them. They would make her take care of the family business, and have a second job at Stark Industries, yet they had the rights to take all her money and rights, so she could not run away. But why would she, the house was her home all of her life, and she would never leave the biggest memories of her father.

So that's where she is now, in the kitchen, cooking diet food, that wouldn't feed bird for her step-family, never knowing if her life would change.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: **Hey guys, I'm back. Thank-you so much for reviewing and reading my story. I'm also very sorry for the very short first chapter, this next one will be longer. Reviews and comments are highly appreciated. Enjoy the story. GO PATRIOTS!

_Life at Home_

The kitchen is the first place Pepper goes to every morning. It's medium sized kitchen, with everything immaculate, and organized, just the way Pepper likes it. Her first chore of the day, is feeding the family lab, and Persian cat. Lucky, the dog, and Sugar, the cat, were from her dad as a present on her 10th birthday. They always get along, so there are never any fights between the two animals. Agatha pretended to like the two creatures when she first arrived at the house, but after her father's death, Agatha wanted to get rid of them. However, Pepper pleaded, and Lucky and Sugar were able to stay, as long as they stay in the kitchen.

After feeding the two hungry pets, she began making a small breakfast and lunch for her step-family. Their meals are strictly vegan, so Pepper has to be careful. Next, she made her own breakfast and lunch, and ate her breakfast quickly because...

"PEPPER!" shouted Agatha's voice over an intercom nearby.

"Okay, I'm coming up now," said Pepper into to intercom.

"Well hurry up, we are like totally starving," said her stepsister, Darla.

"Yea," said Artemis, agreeing with her sister.

So armed with one tray on each hand and one on her head, Pepper ascended the stairs, and up into her each of her step-sisters room. Darla is the first one, "Good morning Darla, did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, whatever, did you pack me my lunch, whole wheat bread right?" asked Darla as she take her tray from Pepper.

"Of course I did."

"And don't forget to take the laundry!"

Pepper took the basket full of dirty laundry, and left the room. Next, she headed across the hall to Artemis's room. Out of the two sisters, Artemis is the most tolerable, because she mostly follows her sister. But Artemis's looks make her a lot more like an adopted child, while Darla and Agatha both have brown hair and brown eyes, and are tall, and skinny, Artemis is blonde with stormy blue eyes, and is a little shorter and chubbier. When Pepper opened the door, she placed the tray onto Artemis's bed, stirring her out of her thoughts, "Good morning, Artemis."

"Morning. The laundry and donors box are near the closet," said Artemis curtly as she eats her breakfast.

Without saying anything else, Pepper left the room after picking up the boxes and bin. Finally, Pepper walks to the end of the hallway, where the master bedroom is located. Balancing the tray, and the laundry bins, Pepper opens the door, and enters, "Good morning Agatha," Pepper had to call Agatha by her name instead of by step-mother, because she got beaten because of it, and left the house with a huge red mark on her face.

"Well don't just stand there, come on, I have much to do," said Agatha as she inspects her nails on her bed. Pepper obeyed, and placed the tray on the bed for Agatha, and waited for her to tell her what she needed to do. "Today, I want you to do the laundry and all of your normal chores. Tomorrow, I am having a small social gathering with some of my closest business partners, so after work, I need you to organize the back yard for the party."

"But I have a..." Pepper tried to say

"Silence! You will do as I say, is that clear. Now there is one more thing you need to do... make sure you tend the gardens, gotta have the best."

"Yes Agatha," says Pepper defeated. She left the room to do the laundry, and finish off the rest of her chores. For the rest of the morning, Pepper had to rush around to help her step-family get ready for their day, along with cleaning the house, so that she can have time to work in the backyard tonight.

When Pepper finally manage to leave her house, she still had to stop by the donation center, and the dry cleaners before getting to work. Her family didn't think she needed a fancy car, so the got her an old Toyota that barely goes over 50 miles per hour, so she managed to get to the Stark Industries main headquarters in the nick of time.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: **Hey guys, thanks for your reviews. I will try to write longer chapters, but I do have a life too, with lots of work. The good part will come soon, but for now, lots of intros. Also, tell your friends, spread the word, PLEASE! Any who, now we get to Stark Industries, and someone is about to make an appearance. So hold on to your reading glasses, and enjoy the story.

_Stark Industries_

Meanwhile, at the main office of Stark Industries, Howard is looking over the beautiful city of Malibu. In fury, he turns around to address his partner, "Ah, Obadiah, it's good to see you again old friend, there is a matter of great importance that I need to discuss about."

"And what would that be Howard," asked Obadiah, curious.

"It's about my son."

"Tony?! That boy is a walking box of trouble that's ready to blow!" yelled Obadiah, remembering an incident at a conference. It wasn't pretty.

"I know that," stated Howard calmly, resting his head on his hands, "but he is also the sole heir to the company, so eventually, he will have to take over. I can't take the stress anymore."

Feeling sympathetic to his old friend, "We already had this conversation Howard, is there anything different about this time around?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," said Howard as he stood up, and walked around towards Obadiah, "I was thinking that we should hold a party, and big one. It can celebrate Stark Ind's big success with all of our business partners, sponsors, and we can even invite some high level socialites. That way, we can let everyone know that Stark Industries is still going strong, and Tony can also meet some beautiful women."

"But sir, you do realize that your son is notorious for his one night stands, he is a playboy, he can never commit," interrupted Obadiah.

"Yes, but maybe he will find someone, it about time he marries, settles down, and possibly produce a new heir," says Howard wistfully, and walks back to his chair.

"But what if he doesn't," asks Obadiah

"I will have a talk with my son. You on the other hand, will begin preparations for the event, sent out invitations and such," Howard the turns around to face the city again.

Obadiah sighs, knowing that the conversation is over, "Very well sir," but as Obadiah leave the room, he turns around, "but do you really think that Tony will even listen, and go through with this plan?" Hearing no answer from Howard, he left the office to prepare the necessary invitation.

Pepper, had just made it to the staff parking lot with only minutes to spare. After getting all of her stuff together, she rushed out of her car, and entered the building. She signed in, and went through all of the necessary security check points, before getting to her cubicle. If anything, she was lucky to even get a job at Stark Industries, because she only went to night time classes at a nearby university. Her step mom wouldn't even pay for her college funds, making her work to be able to go to college, and to make things worst, all of the college savings went to her step-sisters, who barely studied; all they did was party, and were eventually expelled.

With only a bachelor's degree in accountancy, Pepper was able to get into Stark Ind. because her family was one of the company's stockholder, and donor. Howard Stark and his family often visited her family's art gallery, and see all the beautiful artworks before buying some at very high prices. However, when her father died, the art gallery, lost a lot of money, so Agatha gave up on running it, but Pepper kept it, and even though some of the biggest buyers don't come by anymore, it still gives a good income to the family.

Pepper does all of the work and money making for the family, but Agatha, and her step-sisters got all the glory and praise. In reality, they almost don't do any work at all, aside from signing a couple of documents. They partied, and attended the art gallery auctions to meet some rich guys.

Pepper was snapped out of her thoughts by her boss, who started to yell at her for dazing off, before giving her a mountain of work to organize, file, and deliver. Not wanting to get into anymore trouble, she started right away. After looking at another order form for weapons and military gear, she started to have a migraine, in all honesty, looking at these order forms make her sick to her stomach, but what else could she do.

"Hey, you look like you're about to pass out."

Looking up, Pepper saw her one true friend, Natalie Rushman, a fellow worker who Pepper met on Natalie's first day. Pepper was assigned to helping Natalie learn how things work in this section of the company, and they became fast friends.

"Well, you know how I don't really like fighting and wars, so yeah," said Pepper, and emphasized by holding up the mountain of order forms.

"Well, how about we go get some lunch so you can relax and not have look at wars in the making."

"Sure, my lunch break is beginning now anyway," Pepper then stands up, and leaves her cubicle with Natalie.

In the lunch room, Pepper and Natalie talked while eating there lunch. "So how's life at home with the wicked witch of the west, and her two flying monkeys," asked Natalie as she looked at her friend.

"Nat," Pepper says in warning, "They may be harsh, but they are still my family."

"Yeah, even though they treat you like a slave,"

Not wanting to stay on the topic, Pepper asked, "So how's Steve, have you heard anything from him."

A look of shock, and then sadness came over Natalie's face as she looks at the ring on her fourth finger. The ring wasn't very big, but it means so much to Natalie, as it symbolizes her and Steve's love, and after years of tribulations, Steve managed to propose to Natalie before being deployed to the Middle East.

"No, he's still missing," says Natalie sadly, which made Pepper guilty of pulling up the subject.

After what felt like hours of awkward silence, Pepper broke it, "You know Steve would never leave you, he loves you to much to do that to you," still seeing a look of sadness in her friend's eyes, she added, "You do realize that I'm crazy jealous of you and Steve right? I mean you both found love, something I know would never happen to me."

With a small smile, Natalie looked up, "Don't be silly, you are an amazing person Pepper. Any man would be crazy not to like you. Besides, out there is the right man for you, for all we know, he could be in this very building. Don't give-up hope."

"Thanks Nat, I needed that," realizing that their breaks are almost over, "We have to go back now, you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Yeah, see ya later," giving each other a hug, they left the break room to continue their day.

The rest of the day was uneventful, with the majority of it full of paper work for Pepper. At five, her shift was over, and she could leave, but that doesn't mean she could relax. She still had a number of chores to do, including tending the garden for Agatha's party, and setting up the party. Carrying her big bag of paperwork in one arm, and her purse on the other, she ran into the elevator as it closes.

In the elevator, she takes out her phone to see a bunch of texts from her step-family, telling her to go by this, and pick-up that. Adding those things to her checklist on her phone, while remembering any other chores she missed, she didn't realize that the elevator didn't go to the parking garage, instead, it went up to another floor.

Tony and his best friend Colonel Rhodes (Rhodey), had just left Tony's office at Stark Ind Headquarters, and are planning to leave.

"I just don't understand what the big deal is, I mean, he is still young and kicking, why do I need to settle down, and find a wife when I am this young," said Tony, waving his hand around erratically.

"Well, you do need to settle down eventually, who knows what might happen to your father," said Rhodey helpfully.

"But I don't want to," whined Tony, "I mean come on, life's to short to settle down, and have a kid, and such."

"You're just worried that you would be like your father, aren't you?" asked Rhodey.

"No, I just don't think that there is a woman out there for me," said Tony, but Rhodey could see through his words.

"Yeah, a woman who can deal with your giant ego, and hopefully bring you down a notch or two," Rhodey said jokingly.

Laughing, Tony lightly punched Rhodey's shoulder, thus starting an exchange of friendly punches. Then Rhodey said, "Hey you never know, there's bound to be the woman of our dreams somewhere."

When they got to the elevator, they waited for the doors to open, and when it did, Tony collided with a person leaving, causing the person to drop his/her bags and falling on top of Tony. When the dust finally cleared, Tony saw, one of the most beautiful woman he has ever seen lying on top of him. When the woman looked up, she and Tony shared a look for some time, but was interrupted by Rhodey, "Hey, we are so sorry ma'am," as he tried to help Pepper up. However Tony beat him to it, and grabbed her hand to help her up, after she got off of him.

Once again, their eyes met, and they stared like that for a couple of seconds, before Pepper realized who she fell on, pulling her hand away from his warm ones, she said embarrassingly, "Oh, no I'm sorry, I didn't know that the elevator isn't going to the garage, and I am so sorry for running into you Mr. Stark..."

But before she could continue her rambling, Tony stopped her, "Hey, first of all, my name is Tony, not Mr. Stark, and it was no problem." This shocked both Pepper and Rhodey.

An awkward silence commenced, and was broken by Rhodey, again, "So you said that you were heading down to the garage right?"

"Yeah, the staff garage," answered Pepper, refusing to look at Tony.

"Well, why don't we all go down, that's where Tony and I were going, right Tony?" asked Rhodey as he broke Tony out of his trance.

"Hm, oh yeah, we were," realizing that Pepper has all of her stuff on the ground, "Oh, but let me help you with that."

Together, the three of them managed to pick up all of Pepper's loose paper, and they all went into the elevator. The ride down was very uncomfortable, especially for Rhodey, who had to stand between Pepper and Tony. The two of them didn't look at each other, but there were times where they would sneak glances at each other.

When the elevator finally reached the staff parking lot floor, Pepper stepped out, but Tony stopped her, "Hey wait, in a couple of weeks, there's gonna be a masquerade party of some sort," looking a little uncomfortable under Pepper's curious gaze, he spits out, "do you want to come?"

Looking surprised for what felt like the millionth time that day, Pepper was about to answer, but remembers about her step-family, "I would love to, but I can't. I, uh, have a lot of work to do," seeing the quick disappointed look in Tony's eyes, almost made her heart break, "I'm so sorry, but thank-you for the invitation." Before she could see his reaction, she left as quickly as she can.

In her car, Pepper sat in the driver's seat, flustered, and embarrassed at herself. Chiding herself for making herself look like a fool in front of the Tony Stark. But what really got her, was how handsome he was up close, how warm his hands were on hers.

_Stop it Pepper_, she thought. Pepper knew that Tony was a billionaire that is in line for the company ownership and wouldn't even want to look at a meager _slave _like herself. Besides, he is infamous for his line of heartbreaks, she just couldn't do that to herself right now.

Back on the elevator with Tony, Rhodey was chuckling after the doors closed, "Heh, nice work Romeo."

"What do you mean, I was..." started Tony.

"You seem to be acting like a shy, in love, school-boy," said Rhodey, laughing.

"No I wasn't." Tony said firmly.

"Yeah, whatever man, but here's the thing, you didn't ask for her name."

"Damn it."


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: **Hey guys, I'm back and I'm so happy that you all enjoyed that quick introduction of the great Tony Stark. Updates will be much slower now that school is starting up again, but it will pick up on my February vacation. There might be cameos of other Avengers in this story, depending on what you want. Also I need a motivation, so your reviews are greatly appreciated. So review, comment, and enjoy the story.

_The Days That Follow_

After leaving the garage, Pepper did everything her step-family threw at her, even making her go to the market, only to go back to it 30 minutes later to pick up another item. Everyday is like that for Pepper, and she couldn't do anything about it. By the time she got home, Pepper was close to passing out from exhaustion. But she still had plenty of work to do, and she thanked her luck stars that her step-family are out, and most likely won't be home till hours later.

After putting all of her purchased items away, and organizing the paper work in her office, she headed to her back yard where a garden needs to be tended and a patio needs to be set up for the party tomorrow. With Lucky and Sugar to keep her company, yet not be in the way, she does her work with her favorite music playing in the background, and happy yips from Lucky to accompany it.

XXX

At the Malibu mansion of the Stark family, Tony was in his own private lab, tinkering with a mechanical iron suit of some sort, he didn't decide yet. However, his thoughts aren't even any where near his inventions. Instead, they were on the mysterious woman on the elevator, all he could think about were her blue eyes, and beautiful blond hair. He was still angry with himself for not asking for her name, and he complained about it throughout the entire time he hanged out at the bar with Rhodey. Being sick of it, Rhodey decided to end the day early, and dropped off Tony at his house.

When he got home, he headed straight to his lab, in hopes of clearing up his head, but so far it hadn't. All he knew about this woman aside from her physical features, is that she works at Stark headquarters. He wanted to access the employee payroll to try to find her, but his old friend, Bruce Banner, doesn't think that it is a good idea; he thinks that it would take a long time, and that it would make him look like a stalker.

Being the wisest of the two, Bruce was always there for Tony to give him advice, whether it be because of family issues, or experiments gone wrong. Bruce was even there to console Tony when his mother died. They are a strong team in the lab, and were even dubbed by Tony as Science Bros.

However, when Bruce left to go home, Tony decided to still follow through with the plan, but the payroll doesn't have pictures with them. Not giving up, he tried accessing the employee roster to find the woman, only to find out that he isn't allowed in.

"What the hell! How am I not allowed into the employee roster!" Tony yelled, "This is absurd!"

He wanted to try hacking into the computer mainframe, but he knew that if his father found out, he would be banned from any access to a computer for a while. But what scared him is that his father could do that, and the last time that happened, was not a time he wants to remember. Shuddering at that thought, he decided to not do it and just hope that he sees the woman soon. With that resolve, he went back to his tinkering, not knowing that across the city, Pepper couldn't keep her mind off of him either.

XXX

Pepper had just finish setting up the backyard for the party, and was ushering Lucky and Sugar in when she heard the front door open, and her step-sisters enter noisily. They seem to be arguing once again over a cute man, but Pepper doesn't really care. She went to the front door to greet them, but instead, she was greeted by Darla's designer purse to her face. Then Agatha stepped in and through her purse at Pepper as well, "Pepper, be a dear a take our bags upstairs, our legs are killing us," Agatha said too sweetly as she, Darla, and Artemis went to the living room to sit. Looking at the piles of shopping bags, Pepper starts by organizing the bags from which belongs to whom. She learned a long time ago how to tell the difference between the three, so doing it was a breeze.

On her third trip down the stairs to get the rest of the bags, Artemis sticks her head out of the living room, "Hey Pepper, where's our dinner?" she says, trying to sound bossy.

"It will be done soon, I'll get started as soon as I'm done with these bags."

"Tell her to hurry up, we're starving!" Darla yelled from the living room.

Artemis turns towards Pepper, but Pepper held up her hand, "I know."

"Thank-you," Artemis says just above a whisper, before heading back to the living room.

XXX

The normal routine for dinner is that Pepper makes dinner for her step-family first, and then her's. Then she could either eat with them in the dining room, or eat in the kitchen. After a while, she learns that she is blatantly ignored if she ate with her step-family, so she preferred eating in the kitchen with Lucky and Sugar at her feet. Afterwards, she, of course, has to clean the table and the dishes. Then it's cleaning the house, and working on the paper works for both the art gallery and Stark Ind. all while staying away from her step-family and not bothering them.

That night, after all the work is done, Pepper was finally able to go to sleep, curled up in her hard mattress, with Sugar watching over her. And as sleep took hold of her hectic mind, a peaceful dream of herself in Tony's arms danced across her mind.

XXX

The next day, Pepper doesn't go to Stark Ind. because it's a Sunday, and she doesn't work on these days. However, she still has to work for Agatha, and put the final touches on the small social party, such as cook the food, and put up some more decoration, all under her step-mom's critical eye. As she helped her sisters into impossibly small dresses for the party, Agatha gave her some final instructions, "You are to stay clear of the backyard, I don't want your hideous looks tainting my gathering, and you are to never speak to anyone unless I give you permission to. Also, you cannot leave the house, in case we might need you."

"Yes Agatha," stated Pepper silently.

"Good," she then turns to her two daughters in their full outfit, "You girls look absolutely precious, now..."

However Pepper didn't listen to the rest because she was heading towards the kitchen and backyard to recheck everything to make sure they're all in place. In no time the first guests began to arrive, and Artemis was there to greet them, and point them towards the right direction. Not having much else to do, Pepper headed to her room to relax. In her room, her cell phone vibrated, and when she picked it up, she saw Nat's picture on it. Natalie wanted to know if she was available, and if she wanted to hang out. Sighing sadly, she text back, saying that she is under house arrest, and can't leave. With that they texted back and forth, filling in the small silence of her room with laughter. Later she heard a scratching sound come from the door, and opened it to find Lucky and Sugar, both wanting to join her, so she let them in.

An hour or so later, Pepper went out of her room to do some dusting, now that everyone should be outside, attending the party. Laughter, and talking could be heard from the backyard as she worked quietly, humming a tune as she went. A few minutes later, she heard a knock come from the door, with no one to hear it over the loud noise, she decided to open the door herself. Expecting a guest, she was surprised to find a delivery man standing there with a big envelope in his hands.

"Hello there ma'am, is this the Potts residence?"

"Y-yes," answered Pepper.

"Well this is an invitation for the family from Stark Industries, please give it the head of the residence, " the delivery man, whose name was Kevin according to his name tag, said as he handed her the envelope.

"Thank-you,"

"I suggest you open it right away, heard that it's urgent," with that Kevin left, and Pepper closed the door.

If it was an invitation, Pepper is suppose to give it to Agatha, and since the delivery man say that it's urgent, she decided to give it to Agatha right away. So quietly, she snuck into the party, avoiding all the guests as quickly as she could. When she found Agatha talking to her two daughters, she was about to intervene, when Agatha saw her, "Pepper! I told you to stay away..."

But Pepper interrupted Agatha, "But this invitation just came in from Stark Industries..."

"STARK?!" screeched Darla and Artemis as they try to grab the invitation from each other. This grabbed the attention of the other party guests as they gathered around the family.

"I'll take that," Agatha said firmly as she takes some rumpled tickets out of the big envelope, along with a strange, small device. Seeing a small switch, Agatha flicked the device on, and a hologram projection of the invitation appeared in air. Written letters appeared, spelling out the message for all to see,

_You're Invited!_

_To the Stark Industries first ever Masquerade Ball_

_Celebrating our great success in the past few years._

_The Stark family will be attending as well._

_Date: This Friday_

_Time: 8:30 pm _

_Location: 10880 Malibu Point, Malibu California. Stark mansion_

_You can only enter by presenting a ticket at the front door._

Soon the message disappears back into the device, and the guests erupted, with congratulations to the family. While everyone was to busy talking and gossiping, Pepper slipped back inside, to tell Natalie about the invitation.

That night, no one could sleep, they are all excited for the coming ball and are already making plans in preparation for it. All except for Pepper, "But Agatha, why can't I come? I mean, the invitation came with four tickets."

"But sweety, you'll be to busy with work to be able to come. And besides, there are only three tickets, you must have miscounted dear. Now run along while my daughters and I work, we have much to do," with that, she turned away, and went into Darla's room to talk to discuss their plans.

Later, Pepper found some strange paper in her paper shredder; she later saw that it was the "missing" ticket. In tears, she threw the useless pieces paper in the trash and ran to her room. As she laid in her bed sobbing, her two pets came in, and closed the door. Lucky crawled over, and laid beside Pepper, and Sugar once again perched near the window. As the night wore on Pepper eventually fell asleep with her only family left in the world.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: **Hey fellas, I'm baaaack. Now we get to the_ magical_ portion of our tale. Most of you can already guess who one of the fairy godmother is, but there's more to that. Without further ado, our featured presentation.

_Get Ready_

It was Pepper's break time at work, and she is waiting for Natalie to join her in the break room. Since yesterday's ticket problem, Pepper had been in a very downcast mood. She wanted to talk to Natalie, but the other woman wouldn't pick up her phone, and Pepper didn't have time to look for her. When Natalie finally did come into the break room, Pepper immediately noticed how tired she looked, and how red her eyes are, she then knows that Natalie was crying. Wanting to comfort her friend, Pepper went to her, and gave her a comforting hug, before leading her to their table.

After a tense silence, Pepper decided to break the silence, "Is it about Steve again?" even though she already knows the answer.

"Yes," Natalie says in a hoarse voice, "They still couldn't find him, and its been nearly two months." A few tears escaped, but Natalie wipes them away, and turns towards Pepper, with a forced smile, "So, are you excited for the ball. I got myself a ticket, because a friend of mine couldn't go due to family issues. We can go together, and..."

"Nat!" Pepper intervened before Natalie could go on, "I can't go to the ball."

"What! Why! Wait let me guess, it has something to do with Agatha, and her minions," Natalie pinches the bridge of her nose to calm down.

Not even caring about the way Natalie talked about her family, Pepper told Natalie all about the shredded ticket, and at the end of the story, she had to almost restrain Natalie, 'cause she looked as if she was about to murder someone.

"Nat, please, it's not worth it." Pepper said as she sat Natalie back on her chair.

"How can you keep defending them when all they do is ruin your life." Natalie asks, curious.

"Because they are still my family. And it's not in my nature."

"Well you should change it."

"Nat." Pepper says with warning.

"Fine, well if you're not going, the I'm not," Natalie says defiantly.

"No, don't do this Nat," Pepper says, with a hint of tiredness in her voice, "I don't want to be the cause of you not attending. You deserve this more than me. Besides, Agatha would most likely have a mountain of work for me that night, and not allow me to have you over."

"But..."

"No Nat, please," Pepper says, wanting to end the conversation.

"But what about Tony, don't you want to see him?"

"He probably forgot about me, it's not worth it," with that, Pepper left to get back to work. And Natalie could only watch her friend walk away sadly. Then an idea jumped into Natalie's mind; with a little bit of thinking, Natalie left the break room with a smirk on her face.

* * *

If only Pepper knew that Tony didn't forget about her, not by a long shot. Instead he started to hang around the lower floors of Stark headquarters trying to see if he can find her. However, luck is not on their side, circumstances led them to even be in the same room, but not see each other. This went on for the first couple of days until Tony had to give-up and work on getting ready for the ball. His two best friends, Bruce and Rhodey, notices Tony's odd behaviors, and are worried about him. They tried taking him to a bar, but he was still silent, even when a beautiful waitress flirted with him, he still ignored her and looked out the window.

Not standing this any longer, Rhodey slammed his mug down on the table, "Alright now man, what has happened to you. Why are you like this, this, shadow."

"Yeah, I mean come on Tony, you have moved on from other women quicker than this," Bruce offered into the discussion, putting down his small can as well.

Facing his friends, Tony replied, "But she's not just any other women, I mean she was special, different," he then continued his watch of a young couple walking out of the drive-way of the bar, "we had this spark. Now I know that is crazy, and scientifically impossible, but I think she felt it too."

"Man, if a huge music number starts right now, one would say that this is a Disney movie," Rhodey says chuckling as he downed his beer.

"You know, now that you mention it, the events that are coming up, it reminds me of a Disney movie plot of some kind, but I forgot," Bruce wondered out loud.

"I don't know what's weirder, me agreeing with you that this does feel like a Disney movie of some kind, or the fact that both of us are referencing Disney movies," Rhodey says shuttering.

While his two friends were talking, Tony barely paid attention to the conversation, all he could think about is his situation. He decided to give up when it was obvious that he wasn't going to ever find that mystery woman. But he felt that maybe this ball might be his chance, to either move on or see her again, he doesn't know, but he is really hoping for the latter.

* * *

For the rest of the week, Pepper had been continuing her life as if it were normal. Natalie never brought up the topic about the ball or the ticket, but Pepper could tell that Natalie was planning something. Her suspicions increased when she asked her for her dress and shoe sizes, and the fact that she constantly has a smirk on her face whenever she was around. Never the less, Pepper didn't question her friend, and all was normal in her world.

But that doesn't mean that it was a good thing, Agatha made Pepper take her, Darla, and Artemis shopping on her free time. They spent hours at the mall, buying dresses, jewelry, shoes, and other expensive accessories for the ball, even though they have tons of clothes in their closet at home. Pepper gave her honest opinions when they ask her, but only Artemis actually seem to listen. Buying masks was tricky, so they ended up having them custom-made, and of course, everything comes out of her bank account.

After the huge shopping spree, Agatha, Darla, and Artemis came home with bags in their arms, and after giving them all to Pepper to put away, they headed to the living room. When Pepper came back down stairs to get the last of the bags, she overheard Artemis speaking.

"I'm just saying, don't you think it's a little cruel that we are making her stay home, and I mean, we didn't even buy her anything from the mall."

"Are you serious, she would seriously like, embarrass us in front of all those people, the cameras, and the Stark family," Darla says indignantly.

"She's right dear, Pepper is an embarrassment to this family. And besides, she doesn't need knew clothes, it's not like she needs to impress anyone," Agatha stated before Artemis could intervene.

"It's not like anything would look good on her anyway," Darla started laughing, and Artemis hesitantly joins in.

They did not know that Pepper heard everything, and was hurt by their words. Over the years, Pepper had gotten some-what used to the insults, but they still hurt. Brushing away the last of her tears, she continued her chores and made dinner, as if all was well in the world. In reality, Pepper was crushed on the inside.

* * *

_The Day of the Masquerade Ball_

All was hectic at Stark headquarters as employees rushed around, gossiping about the big event tonight. Natalie seemed very excited about the event as well, and Pepper thought that it was because she is actually going to the ball. Little did she know, she was way off.

In preparations for the party, Pepper helped her step-family put on their selected attire for the party. Agatha went with a red gown, with black laces on the bodice, along with matching jewelry, high heels, and a red shawl. Darla had on a daringly short, teal cocktail dress that hugged her figure tightly, has no straps and an open back. She is obviously trying to impress Tony, and with all her accessories on, Pepper had to admit that she was gorgeous. Artemis went with a more simpler, but still beautiful, pink, dress with a small train behind her; she made up for her dress's simplicity by wearing some jewelry, and adding more accessories. At the end, all three members of her step-family was ready for the night.

"Now Pepper, you are to have no friends over, and you need to finish your chores, as well as the paperwork on your desk," Agatha said to Pepper as they prepare to leave, "when I come home, I don't want to find you gone, and I expect all the work to be done, you hear me dear?"

"Yes Agatha," Pepper replied, handing her her small hand bag, as Agatha steps into the limo. All the guests coming to the party are sent limos to take them to the ball.

"We'll be back at one in the morning," with that, Agatha stepped into the limo, and the driver closed the door. Tipping his cap at Pepper, he entered the driver's seat, and drove her step-family to the ball.

After seeing them leave the driveway, and out of sight, Pepper went inside her home to begin her chores. She had just finished cleaning the kitchen, and washing Lucky and Sugar, when the doorbell rang. Wondering who it could be at this hour, she opened the door to find Natalie standing there.

"Nat? What are you...?" Pepper was about to ask but Natalie just walked in and turned to Pepper.

"Well, hurry up, we don't have all night. Come on, let's go."

"What?! Wait, hold-up. What's going on Nat?" Pepper said with her hands on her hips.

Giving her an exasperated look, "You're going to the ball silly, or did you forget?"

"The ball?" Pepper was beyond confused, "How can I go to the ball? I have a lot of work to do, I don't have a ticket, or a dress..."

"I've taken care of all of that. Don't worry, you can trust me, now hurry up and let's go, I'll explain on the way, and don't worry about finding a dress, I've got it covered," Natalie then waits impatiently for Pepper to get ready. When she came down the stairs with her purse, Natalie dragged her to her car, shoved her in the passenger seat, and quickly drove off.

"Do you mind telling me now, about your brilliant plan?" Pepper asked after a few seconds of silence.

Sighing, Natalie complied, "Fine. I can't stand the thought that your step-family is doing all of this to you, and the fact that you're not doing anything about it. So I took matters into my own hands, and I'll make sure that you get to that ball."

"But what about the paperwork?"

"I'll take care of it for you, no worries," Natalie says shrugging.

"But aren't you going, I mean.." however, she was cut off when the car stopped in front of a small dress shop. "Where are we?"

"We're at my friend's dress shop, now come on," Natalie then drags Pepper inside. Entering the shop, they are greeted by a woman with long black hair and looks to be about a little older than them.

"Hey Betty, this is my friend Pepper Potts," Natalie gestures towards Pepper, "And Pepper, this is Betty Ross Banner."

"Pleasure to meet you, Natalie has told me much about you," Betty says as she shook Pepper's hand.

"Oh, well, the pleasure is all mine, but do you mind telling me what all of this is about?" Pepper ask, still confused about everything.

Laughing, but then realizing the time, Betty then pulls both Natalie and Pepper to the changing rooms, "Oh my, we need to get ready now, come on."

Together, the three women went into the dressing room, and Betty handed Pepper a bag, along with the dress on a hanger. The dress is covered with a bag, so it's not visible, but Pepper made no movements. "I can't accept all of this, I don't have the money to pay you back, and..."

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm paying for the dress, and everything with it," Natalie says impatiently, "Now hurry-up!"

Complying to her friend's wishes, Pepper went into the changing room, and after a couple of minutes, Pepper stepped out. She wore a sleek blue dress, with two straps, and a fancy belt. With matching silver heels with straps, Pepper stepped out shyly. Betty and Natalie squealed with delight, and Betty moved around checking her handiwork. After a minute of putting on a small necklace and other jewelry, Betty notices something, "Hmm, we seem to be missing something. Your arms are a little bare, and I don't have any gloves left..."

"Wait," Natalie interrupted, and she dashed out front. Soon she came back with a box in her hands. When she opened the box, inside was a small silver bracelet with intricate designs of flowers around it, and a heart is at its center.

Gasping in surprise, Pepper went over the Natalie, "I-I can't believe you still have this."

"Of course I still have it, isn't the reason you gave it to me in the first place was to keep it."

Pepper remembered giving Natalie the bracelet to keep safe. It was her father's most prized possession for it belonged to her mother. When he died, Agatha sold nearly everything that belonged to her mom and dad, but she couldn't part with the bracelet. So she hid it in the best of her abilities, but after a couple of years, it became too risky, so she gave it to Nat, trusting her to keep it safe. And apparently she did.

Laughing at her friend's surprised face, she placed the bracelet on her arm. Looking at the bracelet, Pepper couldn't hold it in anymore, and she embraced Natalie, crying with tears of happiness. Pulling her away, Natalie wiped Pepper's tears away, "Dry those tears Pepper, you can't go to the ball looking like that."

"She's right you know," Betty jumped in, who was silently watching the touching moment. Quickly pulling Pepper to a desk, Betty and Natalie did her make-up, and put her hair up in a bun.

Then a thought came to Pepper, "Hey Nat, you forgot that I still don't have a ticket."

"That's why you are taking mine," Natalie said, while helping Betty with Pepper's hair, "I got mine from Betty here, cause she rather spend time with her husband."

"It's true," Betty replied

Finally Pepper was ready.

While they were admiring their finished work, the three ladies heard someone entering the shop, "Sweety, I'm back!"

"Bruce, I'm back here!" Betty yelled back to her husband.

Bruce entered the dressing room, "Is there a party I'm missing out on?" he asked with a smirk.

"Haha, very funny," Betty replied before giving him a quick kiss, "but speaking of parties, Pepper here needs a ride to Stark's ball." Betty then indicates Pepper, and she and Bruce shook hands, and exchanged greetings.

"So, if you want to head to the party, first off, you need a mask," Bruce states. Betty realized her mistake, and handed Pepper her fancy mask that matched her dress. it has a flowery design on it, and covered the top part of her face, but her eyes are shown. Bruce gave his approval, and guided Pepper to his car. Before she entered the car, she turned around, and gave Natalie a hug.

"Thank-you so much. How could I ever repay you?" Pepper asked Natalie.

"First off, take the ticket," Natalie then hands Pepper her ticket, "and secondly, when you marry Tony, can I be your maid of honor?"

Blushing, Pepper lightly shoved her friend, "Don't get too far ahead of yourself now, Tony might have forgotten about me."

"No he wouldn't," giving each other one last hug, and after Pepper told Natalie that she would be home at midnight, Pepper headed off to the ball. She doesn't know what to expect, but she has a feeling that it was going to be _magical. _


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: **Hello readers and writers, Fire Dragon here with another update to the story. I am so sorry for taking so long to update this work. The reason was because I was working on another piece called _Clint's Second Chance,_ check it out. I also got a review asking me in the last chapter why Bruce doesn't realize Pepper as Tony's dream woman; well you have to think from his perspective, he doesn't know anything about her, other than her physical features, so for all he knows, she could have been another person, who just wants to go to a party. So with that out of the bag, let's get on with the show. I'm sorry for the long wait.

_At the Ball_

The drive to the ball was mostly done in silence. Neither Pepper nor Bruce really know what to say to each other, considering they just met minutes before. Bruce decided to turn on the radio to ease the silence, and Pepper didn't seem to mind. However, he was curious at what Natalie and Pepper had said earlier:

"_and secondly, when you marry Tony, can I be your maid of honor?"_

_"Don't get too far ahead of yourself now, Tony might have forgotten about me."_

Those words got Bruce thinking for awhile for some reason so he decided to find out more from Pepper, "So, do you know Tony Stark, miss?"

Pepper snapped out of her reverie, and faced Bruce in the driver seat, "You can say that, he is kind of my boss since I work at Stark headquarters."

"Really, at what position?"

"I'm an accountant."

"That's good. Do you like working there?"

"Eh, I kinda have mixed feelings. The pay is good, but the work-load is hell."

Bruce had to chuckle, but something else was on his mind, "So have you ever met Tony in person before?" Pepper was about to answer, but they arrived at the Stark Mansion. The magnificence of the mansion took Pepper by surprise, and she couldn't take her eyes off of the structure. The entire building was lit-up with hundreds of lights, along with ribbons and streamers decorating the entry-way, and balloons float idly in their place. Bruce navigated and led Pepper to the front entrance, which was full of reporters and paparazzi.

Pepper was nervous about the flashing lights, and was hesitant about getting out of the car, "Isn't there a back entrance or something?"

"It's too late now, they've seen us already," but wanting to reassure Pepper, "But don't worry about them, just look straight ahead, and keep walking, you'll be fine. Now I can't pick you up at midnight, but I think Natalie could... did you set your alarm on your phone?"

"Yes I did." Pepper then turns to Bruce, and leans in to give him a hug, "Thank-you. I don't know how I can ever repay any of you guys for tonight."

"Just have fun." As Pepper leaves the car, Bruce yelled, "Good-luck!" before Pepper closed the door.

After immediately leaving the car, Pepper was bombarded with camera flashes, and reporters asking her questions. Feeling glad that her mask was on and gripping her small handbag with her ticket and phone, Pepper walked as confidently as she could down the walkway, towards the doors at the other end. On the way, she passed by other guests who either talked to the reporters, posed for pictures, or talked to each other on the pathway. She bumped into an old man with glasses (_Stan Lee),_ "I'm so sorry sir," Pepper apologized to the man.

"Eh it's okay young lady. Have a good night," the man then turns back to his group of young women.

Straightening up, Pepper walked to the front doors without any other problems. When she got to the entrance, a security person asked for her ticket and name. Pepper handed over her ticket, and said her last name. The guard accepted and let her in and waited for the next person. Inside was equally as impressive as outside; lights and decorations hung in perfect patterns, giving the room a perfect, tasteful look, Pepper had to congratulate the decorating team for their amazing work. Not exactly wanting to head back into the crowds, she decided to look around in the front hallway for a little while before heading into the fray.

One specific picture frame took her attention, it was a family portrait of the Stark family. In a chair was who Pepper guessed was Howard Stark, and the woman standing next to him on the right, was most likely Mrs. Stark, his wife. The only other person in the portrait was a young boy, whose face was full of joy as he sat on his father's left knee; Pepper knew that that was Tony when he was younger, when he was happy. Smiling at the young boy's joyful face, Pepper hoped that she could make Tony smile like that again.

At the party, the masquerade ball was starting up as the D.J. starts playing the music. Guests are still trickling in and some are already on the dance floor; all are waiting for the arrival of the Stark family. However, in Tony's room, he isn't at all excited for the ball, and his friend Rhodey could see that.

"I'm just saying, you don't have to be in a permanent relationship with any of these girls. You could hook-up with one of them and then break things off later on," Rhodey suggested at a moping Tony, who is still not ready for the ball.

"But that is the entire point of the party. My dad is literally shoving every available women at me," Tony says, trying to put on his tie.

Helping his friend, Rhodey said, "You're not usually like this. What's wrong Tony, you know you can tell me anything. Both Bruce and I are your friends."

"Yeah, and Bruce shows me that by taking his wife on an exotic vacation out of the country while I'm suffering."

"Tony," Rhodey says tiredly, "Can you at least enjoy the party, it is still a celebration of Stark Industries' success."

"Fine, but I'm not going to like it."

"Very well then. At least now you will have to be my wingman," Rhodey then pulls Tony out of his room, both of them chuckling.

The two men were about to enter the room, when Howard came up to his son, "Hey Tony, I just want to wish you good-luck."

"Thanks dad," Tony says before heading into the room, followed by a huge cheer from the party-going guests.

"Watch out for him will you," Howard says quietly to Rhodey.

"Of course sir," Rhodey replied professionally.

But before he could leave, "And if he were to speak to any woman for some time, tell him to come speak to me, and bring the woman."

Nodding, Rhodey entered the room, but he couldn't find Tony anywhere. Sighing in frustration, Rhodey immediately started to scan the room for any sign of the eccentric billionaire, but it was no use. It was going to be a long night.

XXX

Tony was trying his best to escape the suffocating crowd, but right when he entered, the D.J had to announce his name, and everyone wanted to talk to him. Now here he was, being squeezed to death by business partners, women, and other random people he barely knows, and he can't escape. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem for him, but he just wasn't in the mood. Women were throwing themselves at him, all are relentless, doing anything possible to get his attention. One particular, shoved her way up to him, and dragged him to the dance floor. Tony was about to yank his hand back, but she made him dance with her to a slow song.

With a small smirk at all the other jealous women, she kept her hold tight, "My name is Darla by the way."

"Nice to meet you Darla, and are you going to kidnap me or something," Tony asked, stopping their awkward dance.

"No silly," she then let lose a very loud laugh, drawing a lot of attention from the other guests, "Can't a girl just have a dance with her soul mate?"

"Yeah… right," Tony then gets out of her hold, "You are officially one of the craziest person I've ever met. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm leaving." Tony turns around, leaving an embarrassed Darla in his wake.

After just leaving that crazy woman, he was immediately swamped by others just like her. He has heard many crazy things from his fangirls, but those couldn't compare to what he heard… someone even asked to do his taxes for him.

Seeing a possible exit route, Tony ran through a group of business men, and lost the crazy fangirls amidst the crowd. When Tony was certain that no one followed him, he ran out of the room. Not knowing, really, anywhere else to go, he raced off to get as far away from the party as possible. He just couldn't take the pressure anymore; his father, Rhodey, business men, fangirls, they are all in his head, mocking and yelling at him. For the first time in his life, he is about to have a panic attack. However, at that very moment he was about to break, he ran into someone, and fell on top of that person.

XXX

Pepper decided that it was about time she got back to the party, so she headed towards the sound of talking, and music. When she turned around a corner, she saw the one person on her mind. Tony was in distress, and she wanted to help him, but in his delirium, he ran into her, falling on top of her. _How ironic,_ Pepper thought, remembering the last time she met Tony.

"Hey! Get off of me!" Pepper yelled, shoving Tony off of her.

That seemed to have snapped Tony out of his craze, but that left a shaking man behind, "I'm so sorry miss. I didn't mean to run into you." He said this without looking at her, still shaking from his ordeal.

Feeling bad, Pepper placed her hand on his shoulder. He tensed up at the touch and was about to shrug her hand off, but instead he relaxed under her touch. After several minutes of silence between them, Tony got up from the floor, and finally looks at her. Pepper was nervous, and embarrassed by his intense stare, but her mask hides her blush.

But then over his shoulder, she spots a very angry Darla, along with several women and men, looking and gossiping, Agatha was among the group, staring daggers at her. Seeing her looking at something behind him, Tony turns around to see the crowd. Thinking on his feet, he grabbed Pepper by her arm, and dragged her away from the watchful eyes, followed by the flashes of cameras, and phones.

"Where are we going?!" Pepper asked Tony.

"Somewhere with a little more privacy," Tony replied, making Pepper nervous, yet excited for some reason.

XXX

Rhodey was looking all over for Tony, after he escaped from the mob of fangirls, he lost the man amongst the huge crowd of people. All of a sudden, a crowd started to form near the entrance, and Rhodey knew that it must be Tony. However he couldn't get to the front, and when he did, it was too late.

Rhodey then overheard a woman, talking to an older woman, "Who the hell was that whore!? I was way prettier than her!"

"Now, now. Calm down sweety," the older woman said comfortingly, "I'm sure that it was nothing. He will come back soon. But that girl did look oddly familiar."

"Yeah, I feel like I've seen her somewhere before," another woman said next to the older one.

"Excuse me ladies," Rhodey asked the three women, catching their attention, "I was wondering if you can tell me what had happen here?"

"Oh, some wench ran off with _the_ Tony Stark," the older woman said, "Probably off to who knows where. My name is Agatha by the way, and these are my two daughters, Darla and Artemis…"

And that's how Rhodey got stuck with talking to the three women with no way out to look for his friend. He did however, got to dance with Artemis, who wasn't as bad as he had thought.

XXX

They ran for what felt like forever. Pepper tried to keep up, but her heels slowed her down. Tony didn't seem to mind though, and kept going through the many hallways of the mansion. They finally stopped in front of a glass doorway leading towards a balcony. Tony slid the door open, and pulled Pepper out, still not letting go of her arm.

Pepper pulled her arm back, catching his attention, "I'm sorry for dragging you out here. I just couldn't stand the party."

Shyly, Pepper replied, "It's alright. Although normally, I would think of it as kidnapping and call the authorities."

Tony chuckled, and Pepper joined in. Then silence overtakes the two people, both not knowing what to say to the other.

The silence ends with Tony clearing his throat, and saying, "I know this may sound stupid but… do I know you from somewhere?" Tony then stares at a nervous Pepper.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: **Hey there fanfiction readers! I'm so so sorry for the delayed update for this story, but I have schoolwork to take care of and other stories on this site to complete, please check those out. Any who, so this is the second portion of the ball, and when things get interesting. So enjoy the story, and please REVIEW!

_Who Are You_

Pepper is stuck. Tony had just asked her the one question she isn't too excited to answer; she is worried about what he would think of her when he finds out. So, of course, the first thing that comes out of her mouth is, "I'm sorry, but I thought the whole point of the masquerade is to not know who your partner is until the announcer says we can take off our mask, which you aren't wearing any by the way."

Tony chuckles at Pepper's attempt to deviate from the subject, "Good point, but does that mean we're partners?"

Pepper blushes hard, but she composes herself, "If I didn't know any better, I would think that you are hitting on me sir. Well news flash, I'm not interested in a one-night stand with you."

Tony mocks hurt at the statement, "Well...I...I'm hurt. You would think of me as that low and foul."

"Well rumors do travel around quite quickly."

"True," Tony shrugs, "But what if I make that announcement now, because it is my party."

"And I would have found out the actual time for the announcement at the party, which I am missing out on 'cause you dragged me out here," Pepper then turns around and is about to go back into the house, but Tony grabs her arm to stop her. The touch sent a shock that is felt by both people, and Pepper tries to repress a shudder.

"Wait," Tony says, losing his arrogant demeanor, "I'm sorry, please don't leave."

Pepper turns around and looks at Tony's hand grasping her arm. Her gaze then travels up to his face and stays there, staring deep into his eyes. She then notices that he has really beautiful eyes that seem to hold wisdom beyond his years, and she would be lying if she said that he doesn't have a very handsome face.

Tony breaks the silence by letting go of her arm and grabbing her hand, "There is something I want to show you. Do you want to come?"

Not waiting for her response, Tony once again drags Pepper through the mansion, and down some stairs. They then reach an elevator, and it takes them down several levels way below the mansion. During the trip down, an awkward silence fills the space between the two, that is until Pepper decides to speak her mind, "This still looks like you are kidnapping me," she then gives him a wary, yet playful glance.

All he gives her is a small smirk and chuckle, "You are just going to have to trust me, okay?"

Pepper didn't say anything for the rest of the ride down. When the elevator stops at the bottom level and the doors open, Pepper sees a small hallway that leads to a sliding glass door.

"Come on," Tony urges, stepping out of the elevator, "and stay silent; I'm not suppose to let anyone down here."

"Then why bring me here?" Pepper asks curiously.

"Because I trust you," Tony states nonchalantly, and it makes Pepper blush hard. They went through the sliding glass door, and Pepper is surprised to find that they are on the private beach at the base of the cliff where the Stark mansion is located. The beach is a little rocky, but still calm and beautiful. The fresh sea breeze blows peacefully over both Pepper and Tony, making the party seem like a distant memory.

Tony couldn't help but stare at the beauty standing right next to him; however, he immediately remembers about the woman he met that day at Stark headquarters, and he becomes hesitant. His mind and heart are in a turmoil; it is either this mysterious woman, or the woman who caught his attention for the first time, he couldn't decide. In his mind, he plays around with the notion of these two women being one in the same, but it is ridiculous.

Pepper catches Tony staring, and turns her gaze from the ocean to him, "Is something wrong Mr. Stark."

His breath hitches at her question, but he recovers and replies, "No, no of course not. I was just thinking about...something." Or _s__omeone, _a little voice inside his head adds, "Please, call me Tony."

"Oh, okay," is Pepper's only reply.

The silence that follows is very awkward, so Tony decides to do something about it, "Do you want to dance?"

"What?" Pepper turns to Tony in surprise.

"I mean, you did come to the party only for me to drag you away from it, so it's only fair," Tony doesn't wait for Pepper's answer before he takes her in his arms, moves one hand to rest on her hips, and the other to grip her hand.

"Wait, I don't know how to dance," Pepper quickly says.

"Really? Well then I guess you will just have to follow my lead," Tony is shocked that this clever woman doesn't know how to dance, but starts moving anyway. To both of their surprises, Pepper is able to do the steps almost perfectly. "I think you were lying when you said you can't dance," Tony proclaims with a chuckle.

"Well, it has been a while since my last dance lesson. But I guess some things must have stuck."

"Well that's good, because I don't want to have to teach you all night."

Pepper then 'accidentally' steps on one of Tony's feet, which causes them to pause as he hisses in pain. Chuckling, Pepper is then caught by surprise when Tony dips her rather gracefully, and she lets out a small squeal of surprise. She has never been in this position before, in the arms of a man she has only bumped into once and then meets again only for him to not know who she is. However, in his arms, she could feel his strength, and she knows that she could trust him.

For Tony, this is all so new to him. Sure, he has had girls fawn over him as he uses his charm to grab her, and if he is lucky, she would come home with him for a night. But this is different, this woman was able to grab the one thing he always try to protect...his heart... and she holds on tightly. As he gazes into her eyes, he feels something that is very familiar, like he has felt it before.

_It couldn't be_, Tony says in his mind, _but_ _could it?_ He doesn't think about it for long as he slowly brings her up, and places his hand at the back of her head, bringing her closer.

Pepper could feel it: the sharp sensation that shoots into her heart and all throughout her body. She then places a tentative hand on Tony's face. They are coming closer and closer, in an almost agonizing slow motion. Tony's hand reaches for her mask, as they got closer. Both of their eyes close, and their breaths mix together in the air as their lips draw nearer and_ nearer. _

_RING RING!_

The moment shatters as they jump away from each other, Tony withdraws his hand from her mask, and Pepper groans at the realization that it is her phone's alarm that made the ringing sound. She knows then that it is midnight, and she has to leave.

"I have to go."

"Wait what? That's it? What's going on?" Tony asks Pepper, still confused about what just happened.

Pepper didn't have time for an explanation, she starts to take an inventory of all her things and goes toward the sliding glass door.

However Tony isn't having any of it, he runs up to Pepper and grabs her arm, "Wait! Don't you think I deserve an explanation."

She does, but time isn't on her side, and she doesn't want him to know too much about her, only to be disgusted by her. But he looks so confused and concerned that she has to offer him something, "Thank-you for the dance, really, and for the amazing night. But you have to let me go now."

Tony is adamant in not letting her go, and his grip got tighter, "Not until you tell what's going on," his voice then softens, "I can help you."

Pepper wanted so badly to just relent and tell him who she is and everything, but she knows that she can't. With only enough time for a swift decision, she recalls some martial art attacks that Natalie had taught her in case of emergencies. Without much further thought, Pepper whirls around, and lands a swift kick to Tony's lower abdomen, making him bend down, clutching the sore area, and she then delivers a punch to the face, which knocks him off his feet.

With his hand no longer gripping her arm, Pepper runs all the way to the elevator, and goes to the first floor. On the floor, she runs through the hallways, using her memory and the sound of the party as a guide to help her get back to the party. As she got closer to the party room, some people, who remembers her from earlier, start to stare and murmur to their friends nearby. Ignoring the murmurs and pictures being taken, Pepper rushes to the front door entrance and is stopped by the same guard that let her in.

"I am leaving early sir," Pepper manages to say through her deep breaths.

The guard gives her a wary look before smiling and opening the door for her, "Have a good night then miss."

Thanking him quickly, Pepper rushes out the door, and is relieved to see Natalie in the car, parked a little away from the main entrance, waiting for her. Rushing down the entrance and sidewalk and passing the remaining reporters, Pepper gets into the car, and Natalie rushes out of the Stark property.

When they're at a good distance from the mansion, Natalie speaks up to break the silence, "So... how was your night? Did you have fun?"

"It was interesting," is all Pepper says, with her eyes on the passing city out of the passenger window.

"Come on Pepper!" Natalie practically yells in exasperation, "I know that look on your face! Something happened."

"Nothing happened, okay! Now just concentrate on getting me back home on time." Pepper is too physically and emotionally exhausted to deal with Natalie's questions.

But she just keeps going, "Is that how you repay me for sacrificing my ticket and most likely the best night of my life?"

Even though Pepper knows that Nat was just joking around, it didn't stop her from feeling guilty, "I'm sorry, it's just been a very tiring night."

"I understand."

"No, I should thank-you for wasting your night on my behalf and for everything else," Pepper turns to face Nat.

"It's really no problem, as long as you're happy then it's fine with me."

After a small pause, Pepper decides to ask the question plaguing her mind, "How did I ever deserve your friendship?"

With a small smirk, "That's what I've been asking myself since we became friends," her smirk then turns to a sad smile, "You had helped me so many times and comforted me when Steve was deployed. I'm just returning the favor."

"Well... thanks again,"

"It's fine," Nat says with a genuine smile, "I did finish all your work, miraculously."

Both Pepper and Natalie laugh, and they soon let a comfortable silence fall upon them. In no time at all, they mange to reach Pepper's home, but they decided to not drop Pepper off on the driveway, in case Agatha decides to come home early, or one of the neighbors notice the headlights and report to Agatha.

When Pepper steps out of the car, Natalie shouts out to her friend, "Tomorrow meet me at the Yin Yang Chinese restaurant! We can discuss about what happened at the party over a plate of delicious food."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll come once I finish all my chores." Pepper then closes the car door and walks to her house. Finding the keys is very difficult for Pepper since she is still exhausted from the party, but after much struggling with her purse, she manages to find her house keys and goes inside her house. Working quickly before her step family comes home, Pepper peels off her dress and accessories before hiding them in her small closet. She then proceeds to wash her face of any make-up and brush her teeth.

Pepper was just able to check over the house to make sure that it is immaculate, that Lucky and Sugar are taken care of in the kitchen, and shuts off the dim lights, before the sound of a car driving up the driveway sends her running into her room. Pepper jumps onto her bed and feigns sleep, and a few minutes later, Pepper could hear the door opening; she knows that it is Agatha checking on her to make sure that she is still here. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, Agatha closes the door, and Pepper releases a breath that she didn't know she was holding.

As the loud clicking of Agatha's heels subsides, Pepper finally lets her mind wander to her memories of the party, and to Tony. Just the thought of possibly kissing him, if the alarm didn't go off, made her blush deeply. Going over the night in her mind, Pepper then realizes that she doesn't have her mother's bracelet.

Pepper jumps off her bed and rummages through her clothes but it is useless, her bracelet isn't here.

* * *

Tony manages to stand up, once the pain from the hits subsided, and looks towards the glass doorway. _Man, what a woman_, Tony decides that being hit like that isn't something he wants to experience again. Once he snaps out of his stupor, Tony realizes that he is holding something, and upon opening his hand, he sees that it is a bracelet.

_Must be her's. But then again, she must be long gone by now._

As Tony goes back to the party, he couldn't help but think about what had just occurred, _d__id that just really happen?_

However, he soon has to face the party again, so he straightens his suits, runs his fingers through his hair, and gently places the bracelet inside one of his suit pockets.

The party hasn't changed much, aside from the increase of number in drunk people and people making out in the hallway, but now that Tony finally showed up, everyone seem to have come to life, and they all want to talk to him. After finally escaping the mob of people, Tony is able to locate Rhodey, who is talking to a young woman in a pink dress. They are giggling about what Rhodey said, and Tony would have been very proud of his friend for finding a very beautiful woman, but he still has to talk to his friend, "Hey Rhodey, can I have a second with you?"

Rhodey turns to his best friend, "Really dude, can it wait? As you can see, I am having a lovely conversation with Artemis here. And what happened to your face."

"I'll explain later, but I need to speak with you. NOW."

"It's alright Rhodey," Artemis speaks up, "I have to go anyway. My family is leaving."

"Oh... well, okay," Rhodey says nervously to Artemis.

"Call me 'kay," smirking, she then hands him a slip of paper with her phone number on it, and with a quick kiss on the cheek, she walks away.

Tony gives a long, drawn-out whistle, "Whoa, nice catch you got there."

Rhodey blushes and puts away the slip of paper, "Yeah, she is really something," he then faces Tony, "What the hell man! What did you _need_ to talk to me about that's so important?"

Tony sighs and doesn't even give his friend a smirk, "Can't a guy just talk to his friend about a tiring night he had?"

"Tony..." Rhodey says in a warning tone.

"Fine. I met this really nice woman today, and she...we...we sort of... almost kissed."

"And your point is?"

"She is different. It's almost like that same feeling with that other woman on the elevator. How can I feel this way about two women?!"

"Could it be possible that they are one in the same," Rhodey suggests, seeing his friend upset about all of this is upsetting for himself as well.

"I don't know," Tony replies dejectedly, "but it doesn't matter, I still don't know either of their names, or who they are."

"Are you serious man! What is with you nowadays?" Rhodey couldn't believe his friend, and he knows that Tony's circumstances aren't going to help him with his father at all, "What is your dad going to say?"

"Uh... I wasn't able to get their names because I am a victim of circumstances. And I'll take care of my old man."

Rhodey doesn't know what to say, he was charged with watching over his friend and yet he wasn't able to help him. Knowing nothing else to do, he wraps one of his arm around Tony's shoulders and gives him a light squeeze. Together, they will go through anything in their way, including this party.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Hey loyal readers, I'm back with another chapter. I'm sorry for the long wait, but here I am. Age of Ultron by the way was awesome, but it doesn't have any effects on this story, just so you know. Well, on with the show...**

_It's All Over the News_

The day after the great masquerade ball is one of the busiest days for the media around the city. Every gossip channel, magazines/gossip columns of newspaper, and even some news channels who were at the party had something to say about the biggest party of the year. But the biggest story of them all is about the mysterious woman with Tony Stark that night. The story changes from channel to channel:

"Last night, a mysterious woman was seen running away with Tony Stark..."

"...did you see that dress, so chic and stylish..."

"Well, looks like she didn't stick around for long..."

"Could this be the next Mrs. Stark?"

"I don't think she is all that great; obviously, something must have happened to make her run away..."

"Is the great Tony Stark at his match? Did a woman reject him?"

"She must be a lesbian then..."

"Well, whoever this mysterious woman is, she is missing out on one heck of a prize."

"That's right ladies, the great Tony Stark is still available on the market."

Pepper shuts off the TV at this point; it's no use, nearly every channel has the same story, and the newspaper has her picture on it, not that anyone knew. Sensing his owner's sadness, Lucky whimpers and rests his head on her lap. Petting him affectionately, Pepper gets up and heads to the kitchen to make her family a light brunch before going out and finishing her chores to meet-up with Natalie. There are very few times a year on which she could get a day off, but whenever she does, she doesn't complain at all.

The events of last night still play in her head in a constant loop, and she couldn't get the image of Tony hovering above her out of her head; her imagination would come up with what would have happened if the alarm didn't go off.

_Would he have really kissed me? _Pepper ponders in her head, _I wonder if he is as good as they say._

But Pepper gets rid of that thought immediately as is surfaced. Tony could never love a lowly servant like herself, she couldn't even stand up to her step family and save her family's honor.

She snaps out of her thoughts as the intercom crackles to life and Agatha's voice burst from the other side, "Pepper! Where is our food?!"

"I'm coming," Pepper quickly says into the intercom.

"Don't bother! We're coming down anyway," Agatha interrupts Pepper, and that is the end of the conversation.

In almost half an hour, Darla and Artemis trudge down the stairs and collapse on the couch, followed by their mom. The two women obviously didn't want to get up, and they almost fell asleep again... if it weren't for Agatha, "Girls! Get up!"

"Why?" Darla groans tiredly, "we got home so late last night."

"Look at this," Agatha states and turns on the television of the living room. The three watch some of the news about the ball that is still going on as Pepper quickly, and quietly, places a tray of their breakfast on the coffee table without getting in their way.

"Why should we care about that b*tch?" Darla says while grabbing a piece of toast to munch on, "Obviously, she is the lucky one. You saw what that Stark was like to me last night."

"That isn't the point. Obviously something happened, so you both now have a real chance to change things around."

"What do you suppose we do?" Artemis asks over her bowl of cereal.

"I don't know, but in the end, one of you will become the next Mrs. Stark, if it's the last thing I do," Agatha says determinedly while looking at the TV screen in disgust, "I just wish I could know who that wench is to give her a piece of my mind for stealing your spotlight."

Pepper is hearing all of this and cringing at the thought of what Agatha would do to her if she finds out that she was the woman from the ball. _Better that she doesn't know, _Pepper declares in her head.

"Pepper!" Agatha yells, startling the said woman, "I want you to do a couple of things for me after you finish your regular chores."

"Yes Agatha," Pepper says and takes down everything her step mom tells her she needs to do on top of everything else while they head to a salon for a day of relaxation.

When Agatha finishes and turns towards the news channel, Artemis decides to speak up, "Um, mom, I actually already met a really cute guy..."

"That's great honey," Agatha says a little to sweetly, "I saw you last night with him and you had him wrapped around your finger. Now use that skill on a Stark and we are good."

"Yeah right," Darla says, rolling her eyes, "You had Tony Stark right in front of you and you didn't even look at him, you were too busy with some nobody."

"What?!" Agatha is confused and furious at this new information and faces the other girl, "You met Tony Stark and you didn't try to grab his attention!"

Artemis is beyond embarrassed, "But Rhodey..."

"Is no one compared to a Stark!" Agatha yells.

"Wait, what if her relationship with the soldier or whatever, gets us closer to Tony? They are friends right?" Darla puts in.

Agatha thinks it over and nods with a smirk as if she has just came up with an idea, "Yeah, we can..."

"But guys, please, just one relationship," Artemis interjects, "one relationship that doesn't involve manipulations or greed. Can't I just be with him 'cause I like him?"

Both Darla and Agatha laugh at Artemis, making the poor young woman shrink back in her seat, and Pepper felt sympathetic to her, knowing what it's like to be on the other end of their laughs.

"Sweetey, in this world, love and trust don't exist," Agatha says after recovering from her fit, "You should know that by now. In this world, people lie and cheat to get where they are and they do whatever it takes to make it on top. And the only way we women can do it, is through playing the men. We have the real power."

"Yeah little sis," Darla sneers, "But I don't expect you to understand, you are the most gullible of our family besides Pepper. Love is for those Disney bullsh*t that feeds little girls with hopeless dreams."

"You really are the apple of my tree," Agatha says while lovingly rubbing her arm.

Pepper couldn't take it anymore, she goes up to Artemis, who shrank away from her mom and sister, "Hey, do you want to come with me to the kitchen for a bit?"

Giving Pepper a slight nod as her answer, Pepper helps the woman up, and together, they quietly walk into the kitchen and the other two didn't even notice the absence of one of their own. Artemis hesitantly sits on one of the stools at the kitchen counter as Pepper makes them both a cup of coffee.

"I'm sorry," Pepper speaks up to break the silence while petting Lucky.

"For what?" Artemis asks, though she knows the answer, and doesn't look at the other woman.

"For how they treated you. It isn't right."

"Well, it's what they do. I'm use to it by now," but Pepper could see that the other woman is barely holding in her tears.

"But it still isn't right, you are their own flesh and blood."

"All they're doing is looking out for me; they know what's best."

"And the best thing for you is to completely ignore a man you obviously seem to like?" Pepper asks, confused over the overall family dynamic of her step-family.

"Maybe. I don't know," Artemis is lost at this point and placing her head in her hands.

Pepper sits next to the distressed woman and takes her hands in her own, making Artemis look at her, "Listen, I don't know what goes on in your family, but I do know that Agatha is wrong about love and trust. They do exist, whether it's love for a partner, or trust in a friend, they do exist in this world. You just have to believe it."

After a few moments of contemplation, Artemis wrenches her hand out of Pepper's and gets off the stool, "No. Agatha is always right. By listening to people like you, I'm not living to my full potential as one of her daughters."

"But Artemis..."

"No! You listen Pepper! All I ever wanted is to fit in and shine next to Darla, not behind her. And the only person who can show me how is Agatha. So you listen up, I don't want to hear you trash talking about my mom like that again!"

With that, Artemis storms out of the kitchen to go join her 'family', leaving a sighing Pepper looking on at the closed door. She is both exhausted physically and emotionally after all that has happened and she just doesn't know what else to do; Pepper understands Artemis's behavior, but she doesn't understand her reasons for always sticking up for her family - well she could understand that part since she also does it all the time with Natalie - but still, it's annoying.

With nothing else to really do at the moment, Pepper finishes up the last of her chores at home before grabbing her step-family's dresses to take to the dry cleaners. She was hesitant about also bringing her dress, but decides to do it anyway as a way to keep the dress in good condition so that she could keep it to remember her short, yet amazing night. As she is packing up her dress, Pepper is reminded that she had lost her mother's bracelet in her haste and tears begin to brim in her eyes; however, now isn't the time to be crying over it, wiping away her tears, Pepper takes all four dresses and heads to her car. Her step-family doesn't even acknowledge her as she leaves, but that isn't new.

The local dry cleaners is owned by an old, kind-heart couple, who Pepper got to know really well since she started serving her step-family; they don't know what really goes on at the house, but they still understood enough to comfort her when she goes to their store in tears.

"Hey there Clark," Pepper greets warmly when she enters the antique, yet cozy place with four dresses in hand. The elderly man waves in greeting to the young woman and chuckles before helping Pepper with two of the dresses.

"Hi Pepper, boy...did you guys went to a ball or something?"

"We did actually. The Stark masquerade ball to be exact."

"No kidding," Clark then looks at the dresses in his hands, specifically hers, "Kids these days spent way too much money to go to some fancy-smancy party."

"Who is?" Clark's wife, Lois, asks when she enters the front of the shop. She then sees Pepper and goes over to hug the woman and take the other two dresses off of her, "Oh Pepper, I didn't know that you would be dropping by. I would have baked you some of my famous cookies."

"It's alright, I have to meet my friend after this, and we are eating out."

"Oh okay," Lois then looks at the dresses, "Gosh these are beautiful. But I especially like the blue one, is that yours?"

"It is."

"I swear, I saw this dress somewhere. Where did you get it?"

"Natalie got it custom-made for me," Pepper blushes in embarrassment for revealing part of what she did last night.

"Well, you are one lucky girl for having such a caring friend," Clark adds in.

"I am. I am glad to have some people who I can trust in this world." And it's true, in her world of servitude and darkness, there are a few things that bring light into it, and she would do anything to protect them.

"And you better know it that we will always be there to help you," Clark says as he pulls his wife lovingly to his side, and she agrees.

"Thank-you so much," Pepper then notices the time and nearly panics, "I have to go, or Natalie will hunt me down, thinking that I stood her up."

"Don't you worry 'bout a thing," Lois exclaims as she pushes Pepper to the door, "We will take care of the dresses for you, and you can pay for them when you pick them up. Have fun dear!"

"Okay. Bye!" With that, Pepper waves good-bye to the elderly couple and leaves. She then heads over to the Yin Yang restaurant and sees Nat sitting at a table, waiting for her.

"Hey, what took you so long?" Natalie asks with a smirk as she hugs her friend in greeting after seeing her heading to their seat.

"Had to do some errands and morning chores, the usual," Pepper then grabs a menu after taking her seat across from Nat.

"Yeah, and let me guess, her royal highness and her two precious princesses made you wait on them hand and foot since they're sooo exhausted from their party."

"No. They just made me drop their dresses off at the dry-cleaners."

"For now. Bet they will make you get them some exotic lobster served only at the other side of the city."

"Nat..."

"No, from across the country."

"Nat, I get it okay," Pepper exclaims as she drops the menu, but she couldn't help but laugh at her friend's attempt at cheering her up.

"Okay, okay missy. How about we get to the really good stuff...like last night." Nat then dramatically leans forward.

"I'm telling you Nat, nothing happened last night at the ball," Pepper places the menu over her face to hide her blushing face.

Nat isn't having any of it, "Cut the act Pepper," she then pushes her friend's menu down, "Come on, you promised me that you are going to tell me."

"No. I agreed to a plate of delicious food," Pepper says while waving over a young waiter. The young, Chinese woman quickly takes down their order and leaves to place their order.

"Please Pep, I already saw the news, but I want to hear your side of the story," Nat then has an evil, devilish look in her eyes, "Don't make me use my interrogation skills," Natalie threatens jokingly, and Pepper only rolls her eyes. Nat use to threaten her with these 'secret' interrogation techniques whenever she doesn't want to open up about her family; this went on for a few months, but it eventually stopped since Pepper somehow always end up spilling her guts to her friend.

"No," Pepper says and turns to look at a nearby fish tank.

"I will..."

"No."

"Come on, you know that I'm eventually going to find out, right?" Natalie says exasperatedly, leaning back into her seat.

"Yeah, because you use some weird telekinetic powers on me."

"Please Pep," Natasha then gives Pepper her best puppy-dog eyes, which she learned from Steve, and it gets Pepper all the time somehow.

"Fine, I'll tell you," Pepper gives in, and Nat almost punches the air in victory, earning her another eye roll from her friend.

Pepper then tells Natalie everything, from when she entered the mansion, to when she ran out of it like a mad woman; she tells her about their dance under the stars, and how she lost her mom's bracelet.

"The only bad thing that happened last night was the fact that I lost my mom's bracelet," Pepper says trying to hold in her tears.

"Hey, it's okay," Nat says while comfortingly rubbing Pepper's hand, "if it will make you feel any better, I can buy you another one."

"No, don't bother. Nothing would have been able to replace it."

"I'm truly sorry."

"It's okay," Pepper then continues her story, and she then mentions the almost kiss that occurred. At this, Natalie squeals and draws the attention of the other people in the restaurant.

"Shush Nat. Yes, we almost kissed, but it couldn't possibly mean anything," Pepper then hesitates, "could it?"

Nat could see that her friend really isn't sure with herself, so Nat puts aside her joking manner and turns serious, "I honestly don't know Pepper. Do you like him?"

"I...I think so. I just don't know," Pepper has her head in her hands now, "You can't just fall in love for a guy you just met, and I literally only met him a week or so ago."

"I wouldn't be so certain about that."

"It's different for you. You practically found your soulmate."

Nat is then interrupted by the waitress as she brings then their food, and both Nat and Pepper dig into their warm fried rice.

"It might be the same for you. He could be _your_ soulmate," Nat says after swallowing her bite.

"I don't know Nat. I mean, how did you know Steve was the one?"

This made Nat freeze, and then one of her hand reaches for her marriage ring and fiddles with it. The sudden sad look on her friend's face immediately made Pepper guilty for once again bringing up Steve in their conversation.

"I'm sorry Nat."

"No. It's okay. You didn't mean to bring him up," Natalie then lets go of her ring and composes herself before answering Pepper, "Steve and I just had a connection. It was so strange," Nat then gets a faraway look in her eyes as she remembers, "a friend had introduced me to him, and the moment he picked up my hand and kissed it, the connection was just made.

"I denied it at first, but he broke through me, and..."

"And..." Pepper pushes.

Nat smiles, "And the moment he kissed me, I knew. But I had already known for quite some time. He was the light in...my... darkness." A small sob wracks Natalie and she grabs a paper napkin to wipe her eyes, "Man, I've become really weak," Nat gives a small chuckle.

"Oh sweetey," Pepper goes over to her friend and gives her a comforting hug, which Nat made no move to get out of, even when other people observe their intimate moment. None of it matters to Pepper, she is going to be there for her friend, the only person who stood with her when she was down. Even though Pepper doesn't really know much about Natalie's past - she never pushes Nat to tell her since she respects her privacy - Pepper knows enough about her to know that she can trust her, and trust her she does, and Nat knows that.

Once Nat feels better, Pepper lets go of her friend but doesn't leave her side, "He will come back to you. He loves you Nat, he will come back."

"Thank-you Pepper," Nat wipes away a few stray tears as Pepper goes back to her seat, "But I thought I was the expert here."

"I guess the student became the teacher," Pepper and Nat both laugh and then ate their food before it got cold.

"Going back to the subject at hand," Nat pursued as the waitress takes their plates away and goes to grab their desserts, "Did you feel a connection with Tony when you first met?"

"I think so, it's hard to tell," is Pepper's reply.

"How so?"

"I had felt some shocks go up my arm as he helps me up, and I did get lost in his deep, dark, intelligent, brown eyes a few times..."

"Pepper, you are in loooove..." Nat says teasingly, making Pepper blush hard.

"Would you keep it down, I don't want everyone to think that that was me last night."

"Fine. But in all honesty, I really do think that he's the one."

"I don't know, it's just so soon, and it's all going so fast."

"Well, you're on the fast lane now."

"Yeah," Pepper lets out a sigh as the same waitress gives them their dessert, "But right now, I just want to go through my life, and just get by it. Agatha and my step sisters keep me busy enough as it is."

"Who knows, maybe Tony Stark will be your prince charming that whisks you away on his magical, white stallion. And you'll both ride off into the sunset," this got Nat a swift kick to the shins by Pepper under their table, "Ow, that's not cool."

Pepper smirks, "So is fantasizing about _my _future."

"I'm just trying to help."

"By being a real pain sometimes?"

"Maybe."

By this time, both Natalie and Pepper are laughing and giggling so hard, that they began to hiccup. The waitress gives each woman a glass of water, and walks away smirking at their antics.

When the mirth dies down, Natalie turns to Pepper, "So what are you planning to do now?"

"I don't know. I guess I will just have to wait for something to happen, then go from there."

Nat nods in understanding and leaves to topic to hang in the air for now. After paying for their meals, the two friends decided to stroll around the streets for a bit before Pepper has to go home and finish the rest of her errands. The afternoon heat beats down on the two women, but that didn't stop them from having a good time with each other. As they go by an electronic store, its display of televisions play various talk shows and gossip channels, and some of them are somehow still playing the news about her.

"When is this all going to end?" Pepper asks as she looks at the image of her from last night.

"This is Malibu Pep, something will happen with a big celebrity and it will grab their attention away from you," Nat says trying to comfort her friend.

"I hope so," Pepper says quietly as she turns away from the embarrassing pictures.

* * *

_That same morning at Howard's office at Stark Headquarters_

"Care to explain this," Howard says to his only son as he plops an iPad down on his desk so that it's facing his son. The tablet shows the news that somehow managed to spread like wildfire, the one about the mysterious woman he nearly kissed.

"No, the article seems pretty simple enough, and it also summarizes everything pretty well," Tony replies with a shrug and a smirk.

Obadiah then comes into the room with a tray of expensive Scotch, and two filled glasses. He places the tray onto the desk, and Howard dismisses him as he grabs a glass; Tony follows suit.

"Do you think that this is a joke?" Howard says threateningly as he leans forward in his chair, "Is everything a joke to you?"

"Well, you should know me enough by now to answer that question. But then again, you were never..."

"Do you realize how much you embarrassed this company, embarrassed me, with this!" Howard interrupts Tony, "We made a deal, you were suppose to find a woman, yet you still lost her, and now the media has the story. Do you know what you've done?"

"I did nothing..."

"Exactly! You did nothing!" Howard is now on his feet and pacing behind his desk, glass of scotch still in hand.

"For the record _father, _I don't remember us making any deals about this. You don't get to choose who I have to be with!"

"You are my son! And I'm your father!"

"To me, you'll never be my father! A father is there for his son! Is there to cheer for him when he graduated, when he won an award, when he built his first circuit board for crying out loud!" Tony threw his glass of scotch to the ground and the amber liquid seeps into the carpet, unseen by the two arguing Starks, "But you were never there, you never cared!"

This stops Howard in his tracks, but not for long, "In all that time, I was busy building an empire."

"An empire that builds on top of wars..."

"An empire that is suppose to go to YOU! Don't you see that I'm giving you a better life... a better future. This family fortune is what puts a roof over your head!"

"God, I can't believe this," Tony mutters to himself, "You still don't get it, do you? All I ever wanted is a father that loves his family, and the _empire_ is your excuse?! Do you even love me?!"

"I love you enough to know what is good for you!"

"No, you only know what is good for this empire, not for me," Tony then stands up and is about to leave.

"Anthony Edward Stark! You get right back to your seat!"

"And who is going to stop?" Tony taunts, but what his father says next stops him.

"I'm not going to stop you, because you're right," in one big gulp, Howard downs his entire glass of Scotch, "I wasn't around. I don't know who you are, and you have every right to be angry."

"You're damn right I do," Tony says facing his father, who seems to look even more tired than he has ever seen him before.

"But you don't know everything son. You don't know what I have been through..."

"Maybe I would have known more if you just spoke to me,"

"I...Ahhh!" Howard then cries out in pain and leans forward onto his desk, writhing and convulsing.

"Pa?" Tony asks worriedly as he rushes to his dad's side.

In one big spasm, Howard lurks backward and falls on his back, continuing to spasm and convulse in some sort of invisible pain, a silent scream rips from his throat. Tony knows for a fact that his father isn't the healthiest man out there, but what is happening now, he doesn't know.

He doesn't know what to do.

"Dad!" Tony cries as he lifts his dad's head, "Help! Someone! Call 911!"

"Tony," Howard mutters to his son, making Tony look back down, "I'm...sorry."

"No! Dad! Dad!"

* * *

**AN: **Woah... I'm so evil, 'cause I just left you now with a cliffhanger. But as a warning, the rest of the story is really going to leave the Cinderella story format, and into a more AU story, but it will go back, maybe. After this chapter, the plot is really going to speed up, so stay tune, and I want to apologize ahead of time for any OOCness, but if you had paid attention as you read, you will pick up some small clues as to what is going to happen next. So please review, and comment below, and I will see you next time!


	9. Chapter 9

**AN:**** Hey guys! Finally! Another chapter for this story. I am so so so so so so so sorry for not updating for sooooooo long. It wasn't my intention! It's just that the summer had been weeks of laziness, work, and no free time. Then school started up, and tenth grade has not been easy on my part (I swear the teachers are plotting to work us to death). And it doesn't help that I have other stories that needed my attention and was just filled with ideas for oneshots that needed to be done. But I digress, I want to say thank-you to any of you who have stuck by me and have stayed, waiting for an update. I don't know what I would have done without you guys. So without further ado, as promised, here is the next chapter for _Iron Man (Cinderella style)_.**

**Disclaimer : I DON'T OWN ANYTHING! Though it would be cool to own Marvel.**

_The Truth, or Is It?_

"Breaking news. Billionaire genius, Howard Stark, has passed away just hours ago. It has been reported that the man has had the fatal seizure that took his life in his office at Stark Industries Headquarters in Malibu, California. ABC Channel Seven News' Josh Smith has more on this at the Malibu Urgent Care center," the news anchor woman says before greeting the man outside of the hospital, "Hey there Josh. Care to give us some more information on this case?"

The shot transfers to Josh outside of the hospital, "Sure thing Emma. Hours ago, around late noon, Howard Stark, the founder and CEO of Stark Industries, was carried through those doors," he says while pointing to the said building, "and was later declared dead. Report has it that the man died from a fatal epileptic seizure, and that seems to be the most likely case, since the man is said to have suffered many illnesses in the past and is not known to take very good care of himself.

"Howard's son, Tony Stark, has not said anything on the matter and was seen leaving the building recently." Images of Tony leaving the hospital flooded the screen. "In the wake of the CEO's death, the company now goes to the younger Stark, although law officials have yet to look into the will of the late Howard Stark for further confirmations. More information later as the case progresses. Back to you Emma."

"Thanks Nick. On to other news..."

The TV is then shut-off by the depressed Tony Stark. He is currently in his living room, having left the hospital after it was declared that his father is dead, and is now drinking his entire bottle of expensive scotch. What was the point of staying? There was nothing left for him to do. His father is dead. The fact that his dad is dead has yet to really drill into his head, and even then, he doesn't know how to feel about it. Sure, Howard was his dad, but he was barely there for him and has done nothing but ignore his only son and wife when he was alive.

_He was nothing but a cruel, cold, calculating, bastard. _

_But he was also your father, so show some sympathy. _

_No, why should I when all he did was brush me off. _

_He cares about you. _

_He cares about the company more. _

_You know that's not true. _

_Is it?_

_He loves you._

_He does not love me._

_"_AHHHHHH!" Tony screamed at the top of his lungs as he threw his drink in his hands, shattering the glass as it collided with the wall. He couldn't take the two voices anymore. One side of him doesn't want to feel anything, but the other side of him wants to. A lot has happened in one day, and he just doesn't know what to do. How was he suppose to feel? It felt so surreal. His dad was perfectly well last night at the ball, and this morning he was perfectly okay as well. It was so sudden, and his father died as they fought. He never got a chance to … No! He did not deserve it! He didn't.

Tony just sat there for what felt like hours, his drink long forgotten and his mind wandering into an abyss. Then, in a daze, Tony stands up and heads to his lab, his only place of solace and peace.

Moments later, the door bell rings, but Tony didn't answer it or even hear it as he tinkered with his current project, which he decided was going to be a weaponize suit of armor, to the music of AC/DC. After a few more minutes of ringing the doorbell only to be ignored, the person on the other side just used the hidden key in the potted plant and entered the house. Rhodey had heard about what happened and wanted to comfort his friend. Bruce had left for his vacation the previous night and has not called to check-up, so it is most likely that he hasn't heard yet.

Hearing the sound of metals clanging and some curses, the colonel followed the noise to Tony's lab and found his friend tinkering away to the sound of AC/DC in the background.

"Hey Tony!" Rhodey yells above the noise, but Tony either didn't hear him, or is just ignoring him. "HEY TONY!" Rhodey yells louder, while also shaking the man's shoulder. Tony still didn't turn around; instead, he shrugged off Rhodey's hand, almost like a stubborn child. But Rhodey could see tears forming in his eyes.

Knowing the only way to really grab his attention, Rhodey turns off the music, and aside from Tony's heavy breathing, the lab is consumed in a thick layer of silence.

"Tony. Do you want to talk?" Rhodey asks after a few moments in a quiet voice.

"No," was his firm response, but the crack in his voice said otherwise.

Feeling empathetic for his friend, Rhodey pulled him into a hug. At first, Tony didn't respond, but he soon wrapped his arm around his friend. Being a soldier, Rhodey has seen much death in his career. Young, bright men and women in their primes who were shot down too soon; close friends who lost their lives to defend one another and the honor of the country; and honest, good-nature people who died because it's part of their job. Rhodey had seen it all. He has experienced grief first-hand one-to-many-times and knows what it can do to the person. But at least he had a therapist to talk to, but knowing Tony, he would most likely deny the help.

The two best friends just stood there, not caring if anyone saw them, because at least they have each other to pull through this time of grief.

* * *

_A few weeks later, at the Funeral of Howard Stark_

The funeral had not been that grand. It's just a cloudy Sunday, with an average temperature and mild winds. Howard did not have any close relatives, and he wasn't a real national icon or hero to draw in a lot of public attention. He was just another rich man who died a little too soon for his age. The funeral was attended by a few close business partners, members of the board, Obadiah, Tony, Rhodey, and Bruce and Betty, who came back to the states when they heard about Howard's passing. Throughout the entire ceremony, Tony had been silent for the most part, shedding a few tears just for show, and he spoke very briefly when it was his turn to give a eulogy, saying what was necessary and nothing more.

After the ceremony, the coffin was closed, and it was carried to the cemetery. As he wished, Howard is buried next to his wife, Maria. Throughout all of this, people have walked up to the last Stark and gave him their empty words of sympathy for the man. Tony took all of this in stride while staying close to Rhodey, Bruce, and Betty, who Tony met a while back at his friend's wedding. The three stood close together, providing comfort as the rest of the funeral went on. They all grieved, but none took it harder than Tony, who barely took care of himself in the weeks after his father's death. This worried his friends. They know that they can't do anything about it, but that doesn't stop them from trying.

"Hey man," Rhodey tries to get Tony's attention, "do you want to head to the bar. Bruce said that the drinks on him."

After a few moments of silence, Tony responds dully, "Nah. You guys go on ahead. I'm just going to head back home."

"Come on Tony. This isn't you," Bruce jumps in, "Why won't you let us help you?"

"Not now Bruce. Please. I just want to be alone." Without letting them say anything else, Tony walks out of the graveyard towards his car, not noticing that two people, a middle-age man with sunglasses on and a young woman, are watching him.

When Tony got home, he grabbed himself a glass of scotch and collapsed on the couch. On the coffee table in front of him are letters. Lots of letters. Most are sympathy notes from business partners and members of the board, but on top of them all is a letter from the law firm. Tony did not need to look at it to know what it said. He knows. His father told him multiple times. The company is his. He is old enough, and he is his father's only direct descendant that is still alive. The empire is his now.

"I hope I can do this dad."

* * *

_The next day..._

Work at Stark Industries seemed to have increased ten-folds. There were mountains of paperwork that need to be done, piles of phone calls that need to be made, and loads of meetings that need to be met. Nothing slowed down. This is especially true for Pepper, who felt as if even more work was given to her than ever before.

She had seen the news report when she got home from her time with Nat, and felt really empathetic and sorry for Tony. Her heart goes out to Tony because she too, lost her dad suddenly to cancer all those years ago, and she knows how it feels to lose a parent. She doesn't know if they were close or not, but losing a parent is something no one can just walk off like it was nothing. It's like losing a part of yourself, the one person who was just always there. She really hopes that Tony can pull through this, and she wants nothing more than to help him, to comfort him in his time of sadness.

Anywho, she digresses. The work load had never been greater. Due to Howard's sudden death, much of the work had been held up, and it is now completely swamping everyone. And Pepper couldn't believe she is saying this, but she might actually want to murder her boss, who is driving her up a wall. It also doesn't help that life at home hadn't gotten any better. Her work at Stark Industries had been so bad that she has to stay back much later than usual, which meant that her step-family will get angry at her, and thus giving her more work to do at home as punishment. Overall, it had not been a very restful few weeks.

Once her break time started, Pepper practically jumped out of her cubicle and dashed to the break room for some much needed coffee and nourishment, as well as a break from her boss's annoying voice. A few moments later, Natalie came into the room, and the two embraced before sitting down to talk. Pepper did not know how she would have lived without Nat at the moment. The woman has done so much for her and has helped her calm down from her stressful life more so than anyone else before.

"So what's been going on with you?" Nat asks as a start to the conversation.

"Oh, same old same old. Nothing big or exciting, just work on top of work. And now, Agatha is planning on an art auction party or something and wants to invite Tony," Pepper says with an exasperated huff.

"Gee, it's a little inappropriate don't you think. You know…with the…" Nat didn't finish that statement, but Pepper knows what she meant.

Pepper sighs and rests her head on her hand, "I know. And I told her that, but she just brushed me off and said that I don't know anything. She then proceeds to lecture me on how 'you are suppose to go for the man when he is down,' or something like that. It just seems cruel, but what am I suppose to say."

"I guess they're trying to get his attention again. If only they knew that he only has eyes for one girl right now," Nat says with a smirk, but quietly to avoid the attention of the other employees in the room.

"I don't want to talk about that now. There is just so much going on, and I don't want to have him on my mind right now. Maybe once the work dies down and I get things back in order, I will…do something I guess…I don't know."

Nat has nothing to say to that, and the two fall into a comfortable silence. After some time, Nat finally spoke up, "Hey, how about on Sunday, I come over and help you with planning for that art auction. It could help lighten the load."

"Thanks Nat," Pepper says gratefully.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Bruce had decided to see how Tony has been holding-up and is not surprised to find him moping around in his lab, working on the same suits again. For the past few weeks, Tony had been working non-stop on the same project, but he guessed that that is a good distraction for Tony, giving him something to do, which is better than him just sitting around doing nothing.

"Hey Tony!" Bruce says loudly to get the man's attention, and he did, but all he got in return was a small wave back. Tony did not even look up. Not having anything else to say, and not wanting to disturb his friend, Bruce goes over to his section of the lab and decides to continue his own project.

However, after a few minutes of just looking at his notes and not doing anything, Bruce shakes his head in frustration. As he takes off his glasses to rub his eyes, Bruce looks over at Tony, who continues to just work on his invention in a daze. Bruce couldn't concentrate because something had popped into his mind, and it had been bugging him all day.

_'I wonder if I can ask him,' _Bruce wonders, but shoots down that idea because he doesn't want to hurt his friend by bringing up the memory of that day. But after a few minutes of debating with himself, Bruce decides to go with his gut instinct. He leaves the lab and heads over to the hospital, all without Tony even looking up from his work.

At the hospital, Bruce's friend, Helen Cho was the pathologist who performed the autopsy on Howard. They were friends for quite some time, so it was easy for Bruce to ask for a meeting with the woman. What has been bugging him almost all day was the thought of 'what if'. What if it wasn't an epileptic seizure that killed Howard. It's just very rare that something like that would happen. It was a crazy thought, but it wouldn't leave him no matter what. After he told Helen about his theory, she was skeptical, but took him to her office any way.

"Are you saying that my analysis could be wrong Bruce?" Helen asks the doctor in mock indignation. Though she is a little angry that her friend didn't trust her work, Helen still has a lot of respect for Bruce and trusts his judgment.

"No. No. It's not that. It's just that I would feel a lot better and maybe sleep easier if I can see your full report and possibly analyze any body fluid samples," Bruce says carefully. He knows that he is treading on thin ice.

Helen looks at him for a moment while also contemplating his request, "You know Bruce, only family members and authorized officials are allowed to look at the report."

"Please Helen. I'm trying to help Tony, and I _am_ his friend. What if I'm right…"

"But what if you're wrong. I did a full analysis of the body, and there is nothing else to say. Howard died of a seizure attack."

"Please Helen, can't you just do this for me, just this once," Bruce knows that he could get into a lot of trouble for this, but his gut and conscience is telling him to do this, and he always follows it, "My gut instinct has never gone wrong before. You should know that." The young woman lets out a tired sigh, making her look older than she really is. She was about to say something, but Bruce cuts her off, "Besides, isn't it also allowed for other scientists to take a look at the report if something doesn't look right, maybe as a second opinion."

"Fine Bruce," Helen says in exasperation. She was actually going to give him the report either way, she just wanted to have some fun with the man, "but you owe me."

"Fine."

Helen then pulls out her full report on Howard from her desk. After giving the report to Bruce, she leads him to the cold storage room where they kept some of the body fluids, like blood.

"There should be just enough left, but I don't think you're going to find anything else," Helen says as she grabs the vial of Howard's blood and hands it to Bruce.

"Thanks Helen," Bruce says as he grabs the vial, "do you think I can use your lab. I don't want to use my lab at Tony's or Stark Industries."

"Sure." She then leads him to her private examining room/lab, "Just be quick. You're not suppose to be here."

"I know. Thanks Helen," Bruce proceeds to put on a lab coat and gloves.

"No problem…oh…and Bruce…"

"Hmm?" he looks over to the younger woman.

"A gut instinct isn't a very reliable start for any scientific investigation."

Bruce smiled, "But investigations have to start somewhere."

Helen just rolls her eyes and leaves the doctor to his investigation.

It took a bit of time. The report was very detailed, and Bruce had to admit, from all the signs given, it did look as if Howard died from a sudden seizure attack. It was reported that the attack was sudden, and Howard was barely conscious in his moments before his death. It also states that before he went into cardiac arrest, he convulsed very badly, and no amount of stimulus or defibrillation was able to restore his heart. It didn't help that they also don't know if Howard displayed any of the symptoms before the episode; only Tony knew, and he wouldn't speak about it. From what he read, Bruce could see where Helen is inferring from, but it's just so rare that a person would die from an epileptic seizure. The numbers are just too low to be a possibility, and that is even with people with the same health conditions as Howard.

Putting down the report, Bruce moved to the sample of body fluid from Howard, "Now. Let's see what you have to say."

It took awhile, but after a few analyses on the components of the fluid, Bruce found that there was indeed something else mixed in with the body fluids, something foreign, yet almost impossible to detect with the untrained eyes among the other foreign components. After running further tests, the results shocked him to no ends, making him drop the report in his hands.

* * *

_Earlier that day at Stark Headquarters..._

Pepper had to admit, after several weeks of non-stop working, she desperately needs sleep. Throughout the day alone, she had nearly fallen asleep in a meeting, while doing some of her paper work, and once on the elevator. Things have yet to go back to normal after the death of Howard, because Tony has yet to take control of his company. It is now being run by the board, and they are driving the employees to exhaustion, trying to make up for all the time lost during the chaos plus extra.

So here she is, almost half asleep, wandering a part of the building she has never been in before. She had no idea how she got there. One moment, she was stepping into the elevator, and the next, she is wandering the empty hallways of a floor she has never been on before. For the past few minutes, Pepper had just been wandering the hallways, trying to find the stairways, elevator, or even an employee. But the floor seemed to be devoid of it all.

After a few minutes of just wandering, she hears a voice around the corner and rushes over, hoping to ask for directions. When Pepper comes closer to the corner, she realizes that the person must be talking on the phone. But just before she reached the corner, she hears something that made her stop in her tracks.

"Yes. It worked, but Tony didn't drink it, he's still alive."

The voice wasn't one she recognized, but when she peeks around the corner, she sees a tall, balding, old man talking on the phone with someone on the other side; he was also facing the other direction, and has not noticed her. She didn't make a sound as she pulls her head back, but presses her body close to the wall. The man looks oddly familiar, but she just couldn't put her finger on who it is.

"Well what else do you want me to do? It can't be anything obvious. The poison was perfect. Those idiots still thought Howard died of a seizure, but I don't think Tony will fall for it now… Yes … I don't know… that guy isn't what you would call subtle…Yes I want the job done… Yes I want the company from these foolish Starks, but he will be too obvious. People will realize that someone hired him for the job. Let me try something else first, and if that doesn't work, we can send him… Yes. I understand that it needs to be done soon. No worries, we will be perfectly fine. No one will suspect either of us…"

Pepper didn't stick around for much longer than that; she has heard enough. Quickly, and quietly, she runs back the way she came, and miraculously, was able to find the elevator. She pressed the one of the buttons and gets onto the elevator. When the doors slide closed, Pepper just stood there. She has no idea what she just heard, and her brain is still trying to process everything, '_Poison …Howard…Tony…that man…'_

Her head hurts just trying to put it all together, but she knows that she cannot stay for long. Pressing a button for one of the floor, Pepper taps her foot nervously and impatiently as the elevator heads to the floor.

Once the doors open, Pepper rushes out of the elevator and heads towards Nat's office. Unlike Pepper, Nat has an office because of her promotion. At first, Pepper was jealous that Nat was able to get a promotion so quickly. But Nat was very humble about it and continues to visit Pepper on her breaks, so Pepper didn't stay jealous for long.

Once she practically barrels into the room, surprising her friend in the process, Pepper could not get the words out fast enough, "Nat! Nat!... Someone…planning…murder…Howard…and Tony…Tony is next…" Pepper says in quick bursts between breaths.

"Woah woah, Pep. Calm down. Take a deep breath," Nat says soothingly as she stands up and goes over to Pepper, urging her to sit down on one of the chairs in front of her desk. After making sure that Pepper has caught her breath and calmed down enough, Nat sits down on her chair and asks, "Now. What was that you were saying?"

"Nat. It's awful…" Pepper then goes on to explain everything she saw, from the description of the man, to what he said over the phone, keeping in mind to keep her volume in control, "Nat, we have to call the police! FBI! CIA! Someone! Howard was murdered, and Tony is going to be next! We have to do something!"

Nat had a stern look throughout Pepper's explanation, and after thinking it over for a bit, "Do you have any evidence, recordings, video, and reliable proof?"

This stops Pepper in her tracks, "Um, no. I…"

"Pepper, no one is going to believe us without tangible proof. All we have is your word, and that's not enough."

"But come on Nat. There has to be something we can do. Tony is in danger."

"No Pepper," Nat says right away, "Going to authorities is out of the question. They won't believe us without proof, and if anything, they might become suspicious of _us_!"

Pepper does not have a comeback to that. She knew that Natalie was right in that regard. No one is going to believe her without proof.

Seeing that her friend is down and looks frightened, Nat feels bad and says as reassuringly as possible, "Please Pepper, just drop the subject. I'm sure the police will look into it…"

"But the police aren't investigating it! They still believe that he died from a seizure," Pepper is now confused, '_Why is Nat so against this?'_

"But there's nothing we can do from here. Just leave it for the authorities to handle it, and please drop it. Did the man happen to see you?"

Pepper knows that arguing any further is futile. So she drops her head and shakes her head no.

"Good. Please Pepper, this is for your own good," Nat says in a tone that prevents any further arguing.

With that, Pepper stands up and leaves, not even saying good-bye to Natalie, who just looks on in remorse and regret as she pressed the pause button on her phone's tape recorder.

Pepper could not let it go. She knows that it's wrong to keep this information to herself, especially when someone's live is at risk. Well fine. If it's proof that they need, then it's proof that Pepper will get. And with that determination, Pepper heads straight back to her cubicle to look further into who the man is.

"Don't worry Tony, I'm not going to let you get killed too."

* * *

**And that's it folks. I hope that the wait was worth it, and that this wasn't so disappointing. This chapter was more focused on Tony because I felt as if he needs to have some time in the spotlight. Plus his dad just died, and I wanted to explore his feelings on the subject a bit more. This chapter is also setting things up for later chapters to come, so stay tuned. However, the next chapter might take awhile to post, so don't expect it _too_ soon. Also, expect the next story to be updated to be _The Little Russian Soldier_, and another oneshot coming soon. Thanks again, so much, to all of those who have stuck with this story. Please like, and review, and I will see you soon. **

**~FD**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Hello? It's me…I was wondering if after all these years you're still reading… Lol, seriously though…**

**Hey there readers (if there are any left), I'm back after a whole f**king year! Gosh, I'm so sorry for the lack of an update, and honestly, I am running out of excuses, other than the usual (school, work, other stories, laziness…), so yea…not much else to be honest. **

**Well, I don't want to keep you guys from what you have all been waiting for. So enjoy the show…**

* * *

_In Search of the Truth_

_Later that day…_

Tony has no idea why he decided to visit Stark headquarters today. Perhaps it is his guilt for not taking care of his father's business after he died, or just his sense of responsibility for the empire that's now his. The buildings, the business, the labs, the factories, the employees…they're all his now. And yet, he could not feel any satisfaction in wandering each floor of his father's prized building. At least everything is still functioning, even without his leadership, so that's good. But one thing's for sure, he is not planning on visiting his father's…no…_his_ office at the top of the building or talking to any of the board members. He just wants to walk around for a bit…and think.

As he steps off the elevator and onto a floor full of cubicles and workers, he ignores the surprised and slightly frightened looks of the employees as they all go back to work with renewed vigor. But Tony doesn't care about the work ethics of the employees, nor does he care about their obvious show of hard work and rounds of flattery and/or praise. Anyone who does come near him immediately retreats at his cold look. And as he makes his way through the floor, the sounds of hush talking, papers rustling, people typing, and phones ringing fill his ears.

However, deep in his mind, he could not help but recognize this floor, remembering how he had visited it many times before, looking for someone…for _her_. Thoughts of the mysterious woman from the elevator and the mystery woman from the ball flood his mind as he fingers the bracelet in the pocket of his suit jacket, his only evidence that what had happened that night was real and so was she. With the death of his father, the funeral, and all the legal matters that had to be dealt with, he had almost completely forgotten about them.

_Almost_.

But now, the women plague his mind once again, and a part of him wants to continue his search for at least one of them that he knows works for him. Yet the woman at the ball also captured his attention and … argh!

_'Why does it all have to be so complicated? Why can't they be one in the same?!' _Breathing in deeply to control his flaring emotions, Tony ignores the concerned looks from the people around him and continues on his way. He then takes out the small, yet beautiful, bracelet and just stares at it as he walks. At least for now, these thoughts are a welcome distraction from everything going on around him.

* * *

Pepper quickly ducks into her cubicle as soon as she spots Tony walking down the aisle near her. She could not believe that today, out of any other days, he decides to visit headquarters…specifically her floor. However, he did not seem to have noticed her as he is too busy looking at something in his hand. _'This is my chance to warn Tony about the threat against him…'_ but the thought quickly dashes out of her head. There's no way that Tony would believe her without proof, and what's worse is that he might think she's crazy and is actually the one threatening him. She needs evidence, and the first part is to try to find out who the man she saw is.

_'Okay…so far, I know that he might be very important and is definitely familiar. It's very likely that he works in the building since he seems to know that the floor is going to be empty at the time. He might also be one of the higher level employees, given how expensive his suit looks and the air of power and control around him. Plus he might be someone from the head of the company since …he believes the death of the Stark family would mean the company falling to him…so he must be the second in command or…' _

Pepper is just piecing together an idea of who the man is, and the answer is just on the tip of her tongue when a loud yell interrupts her thoughts.

"Mr. Stark! Mr. Stark!" she looks up, along with everyone else, as a young man rushes up to Tony, who is making his way back to the elevator. From her position, she could just make out the boy leaning in to whisper something into Tony's ear, and Tony looking slightly confused and surprised. He then seems to mumble something under his breath and follows the boy to the elevator.

As soon as the doors slide shut, one can actually hear the employees let out a simultaneous breath that they, apparently, have been holding. Then the whispers and gossip begin to spread like a forest fire. Keeping an ear open, Pepper hears her fellow employees all talking about Tony's strange and sudden visit. She then picks up the chatter between two workers in front of her.

"…what do you think was so urgent?"

"Don't know…heard that it might have something to do with the board members wanting to talk to him or something…"

"Think it might have to do with that deal Mr. Stane made recently?"

"Who knows…"

_'Stane!?'_ the name feels just so familiar, as if she has heard it before, but never gave much thought to. Then she remembers. He is the adviser to Howard Stark and is now the head chairman of the board…

_'Wait! Of course! How could I have not guessed it sooner!_' The realization strikes her hard and she leans back against her seat, awestruck. But just to make sure, she has to look him up, and the image that comes up just solidifies it. The man that has murdered Howard and is plotting to kill Tony, is also the close family friend to the Starks and is the temporary head of Stark Industries until Tony can fully take over. She has finally figured it out.

But, what can she do now? It's not as if she has any proof of what she saw or heard to support her claims, and the police would definitely not believe her without some evidence. Besides, it's going to be her words against one of the most powerful people in one of the wealthiest companies in the world.

Groaning at the magnitude of the task now facing her, she lowers her head into her arms_. 'It's too much. This is much bigger than me. What made me think I could do this? I'm not some hero, detective, or law enforcement officer. I'm just an accountant with some major family issues and a massive crush on the current CEO of Stark Industries. What difference can I make…_

_'Plenty.'_

That one thought resonates in her mind and stops her inner self-belittlement as she looks at another picture on her screen of Tony and Howard together. Both are obviously posing for a picture on a magazine, and both have their arms on the other's shoulders. She then remembers the family portrait back at the mansion … and Tony's young, joyful smile…

Her face then sets to that of determination as she straightens her posture. She remembers how she had hoped to make Tony smile like that once again, and she vowed to not let them get Tony too. So as she straightens her small cubicle and her hair, Pepper formulates a plan to possibly see Stane and get some form of evidence off of him. Or maybe she can get her hands on some documents or contacts that prove his involvement. She also has to sneak around her boss, which should be one of the easiest things she has to do at this point.

Shaking her head with a sigh, Pepper decides to just improvise as she goes and not think about it too much. Placing a small note on her desk to let everyone know that she is 'on break', Pepper quickly grabs her bag and makes her way to the elevator, determined to get the evidence she needs. And no one around her even spared her a second glance.

* * *

Using the directory in the elevator, Pepper makes her way to one of the top floors of the building, where the offices of some of the higher-leveled employees are located. She had never been up this high since she never had a reason to. The clean, sleek, modern décor immediately steals her breath away as she enters. The hallway just screams wealth and importance with its white and black décor, white curtains to cover clean windows, and tile floors. She then realizes how she sticks-out like a sore thumb compared to the employees on this floor in her cheap pantsuit and just hopes that no one notices her presence.

Shaking her head to clear away any lingering doubts, Pepper begins to look around for Stane's office, knowing that it has to be one of the biggest ones besides the CEO's.

She eventually figures that she might be _a bit_ lost as she passes the same potted plant for the third time. "Great," she mutters under her breath, looking around for the right way to go.

"Can I help you?" Pepper whirls around to face a young, disheveled woman as she walks up to her, carrying a massive pile of paperwork and binders that look like they're about to fall out of her small arms.

"Oh, my goodness," Pepper exclaims as she attempts to help the poor woman with her massive load, "Let me help you with that."

"Thank-you miss," the young woman bows her head slightly in gratitude as Pepper takes the top of the pile off and carries it herself.

"It's no problem," Pepper replies back with a kind smile. In a way, Pepper can feel for the young woman, as she knows a thing or two about being overworked. "So where are you heading?"

"Just to my office…well…not really an office, more like a table in front of an office of my boss…so I guess that sorta counts as being in an office but not really, but it does have a certain charm to it and there are times where it does feel like an office… oh, I'm rambling am I?" the younger woman squeaks out shyly, trying to hide her blush, as she leads Pepper down the hall.

"It's okay," Pepper gives her a comforting smile that she hopes eases the other woman, "I'm Pepper by the way."

"That's a cool name. I'm Jules," the woman seems to want to shake Pepper's hand, but then remembers her load, "So, you looked a little lost back there. Can I help you find anything…you know, after we drop all of these off…it's the least I can do for you since you helped me which is honestly one of the nicest things anyone has done for me so far in a long time…"

"Jules, it's nothing really," Pepper stops the rambling woman once again with a slight chuckle, "But yes, I was wondering if you can help me get to Obadiah Stane's office."

"Oh, then you're on the wrong floor," the other woman says as she adjusts the load in her arms, "He just moved a while back to another office on the floor above. I'm his secretary by the way, so I can take up there to see him. Do you have an appointment?"

Pepper freezes up for a moment and tries to come up with a reply. It pains her to have to lie to this young woman, who is just doing her job and being helpful, yet might end up being fired because she unknowingly helped Pepper. Then again, what she is doing can also cause her to lose her own job as well. And, worse, if she fails, she might end up in prison or worst. Either way, she knows that after this, things can never go back to the way they are. This thought consumes her mind, and the weight of what she is about to do weighs down on her evermore so. She then internally shakes away these dark thoughts. She knows that she has to save Tony, even if it means that she would be in danger and possibly never see him again. It's a risk she is willing to take, and hopefully at the end of it all, Jules will be okay. '_Guess love can really make you do stupid things,'_ Pepper muses.

Trying to keep her composure, Pepper turns back to face the young woman next to her, who has patiently waited for her reply, "Uh…yes actually…I'm applying for a job, and he called me and told me to come to his office for the interview."

"Oh…I don't seem to remember about that," Jules says as she tries to remember about such an appointment, "What job are you applying for?"

"The uh…secretary position…heard that he is looking for another secretary so I thought I'd give it a try."

"Oh," another thoughtful look crosses the younger woman's mind, and Pepper hopes that she doesn't become too suspicious, "I didn't even know he was looking for another one. Well, we're almost there, so let me check my computer."

Pepper internally grimaces and tries to come up with something to say for when they get there. After using the elevator and Jules's special key card to get to the next floor, the two arrive at Jules's desk, which is overflowing with paperwork, binders, and supplies. One can't even make out the computer that's covered in sticky notes and partially buried under the paper. The desk rests just to the side of a massive pair of double doors, which Pepper guesses leads to Stane's office.

"Sorry for the mess, it's not usually like this...oh who am I kidding, it's always like this...I mean seriously, and if you can believe today's one of the least busy day yet..." Jules stops herself from rambling again as she gets behind her desk and plops the load in her arms on top of everything else. "You can just drop everything right there," she gestures to a corner of her desk.

Pepper does so and looks around, "This place is amazing."

"You'll get use to it I'm sure. It's actually kinda boring," Jules mutters with a chuckle as she looks at her computer screen, "I don't…see your appointment anywhere. It's not on his schedule at all actually. Are you sure he called you and told you to come here today?"

"Positive, perhaps he didn't tell you," as soon as those words left her mouth, Pepper grimaces at such a lame excuse. She mentally berates herself as she closely watches the other woman's reaction.

And to her surprise, Jules lets out a massive sigh and runs her hands through her already messy hair, "Ugh, not again…"

"Again?"

She then lets out another sigh, "It's nothing. Let me go check to see if he's in."

As Jules opens the door to Stane's office, Pepper holds her breath and waits. It's now or never, and her whole mission hinges on whether Stane allows her in or not. But to her surprise, and that of Jules apparently, Stane doesn't appear to be in his office.

"Ugh…he left without telling me again," the ticked-off secretary grumbles as she checks her computer.

"He doesn't seem to tell you much does he?"

"No, not really. Though I guess that's because I'm still relatively new as you can most likely tell…he just…" she lets out another sigh, but her eyes remains on the computer screen, "I just wish he that he told me ahead of time or given me a notice of some sort." She then checks her phone, only to still find nothing, "I'm really sorry. I'm sure he'll be back very soon. Why don't you take a seat and wait for him," Jules gestures to a few seats on the other side of the double doors.

Pepper nods and takes a seat, though she is just itching to get into the office and look around, but with Jules here, she can't. So to pass the time, she might as well try to get to know a bit more about the man, "So…does he do this often? Leave and not tell you about it that is?"

Jules looks over at her for a moment before getting back to work, seeming to contemplate about whether to tell Pepper or not, "Kinda…I haven't been here long to know for sure…but… ever since Mr. Stark's death, Mr. Stane has been off on his own a lot and doing stuff without telling me. He keeps leaving his office in a hurry and doesn't tell me where he goes or what he does…"

"What do you think he does," Pepper is now curious, and she believes it may have something to do with his plot against the Starks.

"Does it matter? Besides, it's none of my business. I just do my best with what he gives me and roll with it."

"I see…" Pepper doesn't know what else to say.

It's obvious now that Stane is doing some very clandestine and shady activities and is mostly operating on his own agenda separate from the company. So he might be working on his own. She then remembers the conversation she overheard earlier and figures that there has to be a second party involved in everything. Originally, she thought that they were just the assassins, but then again, they seemed far too invested in the entire operation to just be so. Maybe they're another, rivaling company?Pepper doesn't know for sure, so hopefully she might be able to get some answers soon. She checks her phone and opens her recording app, setting it in case she is going to have to talk to Stane.

Looking out a nearby window, Pepper sees how the sun is relatively low in the sky. It must be getting really late now. She then wonders what her boss is thinking downstairs right now. She grimaces, if this doesn't work, she is going to be in a whole other kind of trouble.

"Listen, I gotta go use the bathroom and pick-up some work," Jules says in a hurry as she stands up, her phone in her hand, "I'll be right back as soon as I can, but I'm sure Mr. Stane will come back eventually. Or do you want to make another appointment with him to meet him another time?"

"No, it's alright," Pepper says almost too quickly, and composes herself, "I mean…I can wait."

"Okay," Jules seems hesitant but then shrugs. So she heads off, leaving Pepper on her own.

Sighing in relief and for her good luck, Pepper quickly and quietly ducks into Stane's massive, clean, new office. Not stopping to admire the room, Pepper immediately gets behind the desk and boots up his computer. The desk looks slightly messy with papers strewn about, so it appears as if Stane left in a hurry. The computer, however, is locked, and it requires a password to open.

"Dang it," Pepper cusses as she rifles through the drawers instead, making extra sure to place everything back the way they were. She also looks through some of the paperwork and cards on the desk, but they didn't reveal anything about the assassins or Stane's plans. She is just about to give up and head back out when she notices a mysterious panel on one of the side drawers. Pulling it up, it turns out to be a false bottom, and underneath it is a book, called _The Iron Monger_.

"Now why would Stane put you in a secret drawer?" Pepper asks quietly as she opens the slightly worn book. In the front covers, a riddle is written in neat handwriting,

_Thy journey begins when the door is unlocked._

_The key's not far,_

_And it can be quite a shock._

_It's closer than you think._

_You need to begin at the start,_

_And then thy story will unravel in an eye's blink._

_ 'This riddle must be for the password! It's closer than I think? To begin at the start?' _Pepper wonders in her head as she stares at the inside cover. She then flips to the beginning of the story, only to find that nothing really stood out word-wise or number-wise. '_Begin at the start…'_

That's when it hits her. The start of the story is the title, and then after it is the story. So with bated breath, she types in the title of the book, _The Iron Monger,_ onto the password bar and holds her breath as the screen loads. It worked.

Releasing her breath in relief, Pepper begins to look around. She eventually finds a private messenger app and opens it to find several messages between Stane and an anonymous party. "Bingo," Pepper mutters as she reads some of the messages that have been decrypted. Though the only the ones from the other party are decrypted, and all the ones from Stane are encrypted, they paint a clear picture of the their plans to murder the Starks. Even though Pepper knows about it, some of the details still make her gasp. They have been planning this for months.

The rest of the messages, however, talk about some weapon deals that Stane has made, and these date back for almost years according to the dates of the messages. Wanting to know more, Pepper goes into the documents folder and scans it with lightening fast speed. She then finds a folder listing all sorts of documents and contracts over some weapon deals and it shook her to the core once she realizes that they are all for shipments to the Middle East, towards some mysterious looking organizations that Pepper knows aren't towards the US military.

As she scrolls through some more, she also sees some documents with a 'void' or 'rejected' stamped on it, along with pages after pages of shipments and contracts to a mysterious buyer that Pepper doesn't recognized, called H. Stane must be dealing with some sort of clandestine organization that is based across seas, and it seems as if Howard must have not approved. '_That might be why he was murdered. So that Stane can protect his deals to this organization.'_ Pepper guesses.

She opens another folder to find blueprints of weapons, missiles, and vehicles that she has never seen before, but look far more advance than anything they have now. They almost look like they're from a sci-fi movie of some sort. She may not be an engineer or a scientist or a lawyer, but even she could see that some of these look far-fetched and possibly illegal. She then finds another blueprint, but this one catches her eye even more since it has Tony's name on it. It seems to be a blueprint of a suit or armor of some kind, and it looks like it's really heavily armed. This makes her freeze in her tracks. _'Could Tony be a part of this too? Is he working for Stane and making all of these advance weapons of mass destruction?'_ She refuses to believe it, but the proof is all there. Pages after pages of Tony's suit of armor, each one different than the last.

_'Wait. Stane is also planning to kill Tony. So it must mean that Tony is a victim in all of this as well, he might not even know about these deals,'_ Pepper hopes, but a part of her still doubts, _'Or maybe he does know, but Stane is planning to kill Tony so that he can take all the money?'_ If Pepper uses these blueprints as evidence, then Tony would be targeted too, and he could lose everything.

And he would hate her forever.

Then, the weight of all the evidence in front of her finally crashes down on her. This is no longer a matter for the police. It's now a matter for the FBI or CIA or Homeland Security! The nation could be at threat here with the deals Stane is making with these weapons of mass destruction. Tears are now falling from her eyes and on her hands as they clench into fists. What should she do?!

"I'm sorry Tony," Pepper says to herself as she digs around in her bag for her flash drive. Without thinking, she jams it into the port and begins to copy down the files, the documents, the messages, everything. As soon as it is all downloaded, Pepper yanks out the flash drive, wipes her eyes, places the book neatly back into the false bottom and makes sure that everything goes back to the way they were, including the computer. And just as she steps out of the office, she can hear the voices of both Jules and Stane as they head towards the office.

"But sir! You have a meeting later tonight with…"

"I don't care Miss Ling! Just deal with it!"

"But the meeting is very important! And I just got a call from the board. They wanted to speak to you earlier with Mr. Stark…"

"I have much more important things to deal with! Just take care of it! Also cancel all my plans for the rest of the day and tomorrow morning, I'm heading out!"

"But sir!"

The door to Stane's office closed just as the two round the corner, and Pepper moves to stand by the chairs. When Stane finally notices her, he asks in a gruff tone, "And who are you?"

Before Pepper can say anything, Jules speaks up, "She's the new secretary you were going to interview today sir. Without telling me," she mumbles the last part, but he could hear her anyway.

"I don't need your input Miss Ling," he then turns to Pepper with what she guess is suppose to be his nice expression, but it still comes off as intimidating, "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that there would be an interview, or that I was looking for another secretary."

Now standing close to the man himself, Pepper almost shrinks away in fear, knowing all the horrible things this man plans to do and has done. But she musters up her courage and stands a bit taller. "Oh, you must be Mr. Stane," Pepper puts on her most sincere face as she speaks carefully, "I want to apologize so very much. The Mr. Stane I was meant to meet today must have sent me the wrong address since he just called asking where I am. Looks like I went to the wrong place. I'm so sorry for this, and I'm so sorry Jules."

Jules seems to deflate a little, but just nods and go back to her desk, "It's okay."

"Oh a simple misunderstanding I'm sure. _I'm_ so sorry for having to keep you waiting though," Stane says with such a sincere smile, "I hope you have a safe trip home Miss…"

She knows that she can't lie with Jules in the same room, yet she also doesn't want to tell the complete truth either, "Paltrow. Pepper Paltrow."

"Oh well, it's nice to meet you then Miss Paltrow. By the way, if things don't work out with the other Mr. Stane, then do stop by, I might have just the job for you," he says with a mirthful eyes, shaking her hand slightly. However, Pepper becomes immediately worried for Jules, as she looks over to the busy younger woman at her desk.

But Pepper just wants to get out of there now and not have to face the monster in front of her, "I'll keep that in mind. Thank-you for understanding. Have a good evening."

"And you too." Pepper didn't wait another second as she calmly, or as calmly as she could clutching her bag with the flash drive full of classified documents and encrypted messages, walks down the halls towards the elevators. As she walks down quickly, she suddenly remembers why Stane seems so familiar. She had met him before, at her family's art gallery with the Starks. The fear that he might have seen through her and remember her, spurs her to walk faster towards the elevator.

* * *

As soon as Pepper is out of sight, Obadiah lets out a puff of breath and turns to face Jules, who has just typed an email to Justin Hammer about cancelling the meeting later tonight, "Cancel all my meetings tonight and tomorrow. And clean up that desk of yours, it's embarrassing."

"Yes sir," she mumbles quietly, having given up.

As he steps into his office, he heads for his desk; however, he immediately becomes suspicious. He notices some drops of water on his desk that he knows weren't there before, and some of his paper work is shuffled around. It could have been Jules, but she knows better than to enter his office without him there. He then checks his computer and realizes that some of his classified documents have been recently opened, and they were copied and downloaded. Fearful, he opens his private messenger and sees that it too has just been opened.

"Sh*t," he scans looks through everything and it appears like some of the more classified documents have been downloaded. He knows that it has to have been that woman. But to confirm his suspicions, he goes to his computer's camera feed to find out. As a security measure for his own eyes only, he made sure that as soon as his computer is turned on, so is the computer's camera so that it can record anyone who is in front of the screen. And sure enough, the feed of Miss Paltrow in front of his computer causes him to slam his fist to his desk.

Grunting in anger, he picks up his phone and makes a very special, secured call, "Hi, yes it's me again. Listen, we got a situation here. And I think I'm going to need him after all. Simple search and elimination, no fuss, no attention, completely accidental… Yes…send in the Winter Soldier…"

* * *

**AN: And scene. **

**So that's that for this chapter. I know that it has roughly more than a year since my last update, and I know that my writing style has changed quite a bit, but I hope that this is still a bit enjoyable for all of you. Again, I want to apologize greatly for the massive delay, but it just can't be helped. So I hope that this chapter is worth the wait, and to be honest all I can say is…**

**At least I can say that I've tried****…To tell you I'm sorry for making you wait…But it don't matter it clearly might not matter to you anymore…**

**So until next time, this is FD signing off…**

**Peace**

**~FD**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Okay…okay…I can't just end things like that…I mean I left for an entire year…I can't just give you guys one chapter. You all deserve more than that. So here it is…another chapter just for guys. And I hope you all like it…**

**So enjoy the show…**

* * *

_Dishonesty and Distrust_

_'Deep breaths. Deep breaths,'_ Pepper repeats in her head like a mantra as she paces the elevator floor. She has done it. She has the evidence … the proof she needs to prove that Stane killed Howard and is planning to kill Tony too, while making illegal deals to foreign organizations. It's all in her flash drive, and she could not believe how heavy that little piece of metal and plastic can feel in her bag. Sucking in and releasing another deep breath, Pepper looks at the floor counter above her.

She then realizes that after getting onto the elevator, she pressed the button for the floor that is not for the staff parking lot. Unknowingly, she had pressed the button for the floor Natalie's office is on. As soon as the elevator door opens, she rushes to her friend's office in hopes of convincing her that she was right all along.

'_She has to believe me now. She can't deny it. She will help me. She just has to…'_ Pepper thinks to reassure herself. Out of everyone she knows, Nat is the only one that can help her convince the authorities. She has always been the calmer and more confident of the two, and is the least likely to just break down and let her emotions take over. With that thought, Pepper speeds up to a light sprint.

The floor is eerily quiet as all the employees on the floor have left for the day, thus making her panting seem louder than it really is. Pepper knows that Nat often likes to stay behind to get even more work done, so she does not have to worry about Nat not being in her office this late.

However, as soon as she rounds the corner towards Nat's office, she hears her voice talking to someone in her office and pauses, "…here's the recording Phil. Though I don't know why you decided to pick it up yourself considering I could just send it to headquarters."

"Nah…thought I'd just do it myself just to be extra careful," another, male voice speaks up, which Pepper guesses belongs to Phil, "Besides, I just wanted to check-up on our…best agent," Phil says in whisper, but Pepper can just make it out, making her reel back in silent shock.

'_Special agent?! What special agent?! A spy? Natalie?'_ Pepper doesn't know, but she has to find out. She knows that she shouldn't be eavesdropping on her best friend, but with everything that's happening, she couldn't help but hunker down by the wall and listen in as the two in the office talk.

"Can you please shut-up Phil, you don't know who could be listening," Natalie hisses back.

"It's okay, the staff on this floor is gone for the day … and the janitor keeping an eye out …"

"Are you serious Phil," Nat groans in indignation, "I don't need anyone watching over me! I can take care of myself thank-you!"

"Now who's being loud," Phil replies with a joking tone, before turning serious, "You know why we have to Natasha…you're one of the best agents we have and you're very deep in this company, we can't take any risks …"

'_Natasha? She's an agent?! For who?!' _Pepper places her hand over her own mouth to prevent herself from giving herself away.

After a moment, Nat seems to release a breath before saying, "I know…"Some rustling can be heard, and Pepper backs away as she hears the voices draw closer to the door.

"Now, are you sure that it's Stane?"

"Positive. It didn't take long to figure out. The proof from a reliable witness is in the recording, along with some other things I was able to dig up."

"Who's the witness?"

"Just someone I got close to while working here. She's trusts me completely and didn't lie. That I know for sure."

"Good work. Soon the case will be blown right open, and Stane would get what he deserves. Howard was a good man, he didn't deserve to die. I'm sorry about all of this though – having to lie to your best friend and all. But does she suspect?"

"No, she doesn't know anything…"

Pepper didn't bother to stay and hear the rest. '_How could she do this to me?! My own friend!'_ with tears in her eyes, Pepper rushes down the hall towards the elevator. She didn't even notice when the janitor yells out to her.

"Hey! What are you doing here!? STOP!"

She didn't stop. She got onto the elevator and quickly makes her way to the staff parking lot. Wiping her tears away, she drives out into the busy city street.

"It was all a lie. It was all a lie. She was never my friend. She just used me," Pepper mutters to herself as she chokes back a sob. Natalie, or _Natasha_, has been lying to her and using her all along, and she _trusted_ her. '_How could she?'_ Pepper is seething with anger but also hurt, sad, and confused.

However, now's not the time to be breaking down. She still has the real hard evidence that she can turn to the police or FBI or CIA. By now though, Stane might have figured her out, and Nat and that man, Phil, might have realized that they were heard, so they would be looking for her. Or worst, they might have contacted the authorities already, and they might be hunting her down right now. Or Stane might be sending his henchmen to get her and the drive. Whatever the case, she has to be careful.

She could quickly head home and hope that they didn't follow her there. Yea, her house is the last place they'd suspect to look for her. So with that in mind, Pepper makes a beeline for home.

However, she couldn't help but feel an odd prickling sensation of being watched, but when she looks in all her mirrors, she couldn't see anything. Someone is definitely following her, so she has to lose them in traffic on the way.

She then hears her phone ringing and recognizes the ringtone as that of Nat, most likely calling her to find out where she is. Pepper quickly grabs her phone from her bag and shuts it off completely. Without another thought, Pepper speeds up.

* * *

_Earlier that day…_

Artemis lets out a sigh as she pulls up in front of the nearby dry cleaners. Having nothing else to do that day and wanting to escape from her unbearable mom and sister, she decided to go on a drive around the city. After much thinking and relaxing, Artemis decides in a spur of the moment to go and pick up the dry cleanings to help Pepper out, having gotten a phone call to the house that they were ready.

Unlike the rest of her family, Artemis never did enjoy treating Pepper like a servant. It always made her feel awful each and every time she makes her step sister do something or just be downright rude to her. Even when Pepper tried to be civil with her, she still just lashes out, yet feels bad afterward. Maybe a part of her just wants to feel like she is a part of her own family, or maybe she just wants to be accepted. She has always been the odd one out, the younger sister underneath her older, tougher, prettier sister, and often the butt end to their teasing. Even when she knows that they are teasing, she couldn't help but feel ashamed and embarrassed, especially when they criticize her in public. But nevertheless, they are still her family, so she couldn't bring herself to truly hate them.

However, she often wonders why Pepper chose to stay with them for all these years. Through all the taunting, teasing, abusing...Pepper still stayed and does as she is told. It puzzled Artemis greatly, but she never thought to question it.

After staring at the dry cleaners for a bit, she decides that she might as well go in. Stepping into the slightly antique place, Artemis is starting to get why it took them so long to finish the dresses from weeks ago, but it's still nice and has its own charm. At the counter is a young man with a mop of black hair and a dusting of freckles across his cheek, reading a comic book of some sort and only looking up when he heard the bell at the door ring. Behind him is an older man that is taller and has a bigger build than that of the younger man, who is occupied with sweeping the floors.

"Hello. How can I help you?" the younger man asks in a polite, yet nonchalant tone.

"Yes, I'm here to pick up for Potts…" she sees the man's name tag, "…Jon."

"Oh, for Pepper Potts right?" the older man asks, finally looking up at the young woman, "She didn't tell me that someone else is picking up the dresses though."

"Yes. I thought I could lend a hand and help pick them up. If it helps, my name is Artemis Potts."

"Oh right. You're one of her step-sisters right?" the old man asks with a raised eye brow.

This makes Artemis confused and wonder what else Pepper might have said. "Yeah, I am. Look, I just wanted to help out today, so if … well, you have a rule/policy or something and I can't…then I'll just let her pick it up…"

"No no. I'm not saying you can't miss. I was just wondering. Pepper's a real close friend, that's all," the older man seems to contemplate for a bit before shrugging, "The dresses are in the back. I'll be a moment. I'm Clark by the way. And of course you met Jon," he gestures to the young man.

"Hello Clark," Artemis shakes his hand hesitantly, though his intense look makes her want to shrink away.

"It's good to know that Pepper is finally getting a break. It pains me sometimes to see her so overworked," Artemis looks down and doesn't know how to reply. It doesn't matter though, since Clark does not wait for her reply and heads in the back. This leaves her to stand there awkwardly with Jon, who simply goes back to his comic.

"Alright," Clark announces as he comes back in, "I have four dresses here for Pepper."

"Four?" she asks confused. Maybe there is a mistake. But when he hands the dresses one at a time to her, she sees the fourth dress and gasps.

* * *

As soon as Pepper is home and is sure that she is no longer followed, she rushes into her house and locks the door. Immediately, what strikes her as unnerving is the absolute silence of the house. All the cars are parked in the driveway, so her entire step-family is home. Normally when she comes home this late, they would be watching some reality show or TMZ in the living room and yelling at her to get dinner ready. However, the TV is turned off in the living room, and they aren't there. Even Sugar and Lucky, who would normally greet her cheerfully at the door, are nowhere to be seen.

Scared for a moment that something might have happened to them, she rushes through the house and eventually finds her step-family in the dining room…all sitting at the table and staring at her with varying emotions. And on the table is her dress…the dress she wore at the ball…along with her mask. They know.

"You're home late," Agatha says slowly as she stands up, "Did you have a nice day at work?"

"I…I can explain Agatha…" Pepper gulps and tries to back out of the room, but Agatha just gestures her to stay. With a look, Artemis goes to block the doorway to the hall. Pepper hears some scratching and whining sounds coming from the closed kitchen door and knows that Lucky and Sugar are locked in there. She is trapped.

"I'm sure you can. But first let me show you something," Agatha then holds up her dress and mask in one hand, "So Artemis, here, picked something very interesting up today, while she is doing _your_ chore. And guess what we all found in your room? Did you think we are that stupid? That we wouldn't figure it out?"

"Hey! You have no right to go into my room. And like I said, I can explain…" Really, Pepper does not have time to explain to her step-mother, nor does she want to, not when there are people hunting her down. But there is no escaping.

"Well, _WE_ DON'T WANT TO HERE IT YOU WHORE!" Darla screams, slamming her hand on the table while shooting up out of her seat, "I should have known it was _YOU_. This was your plan all along wasn't it? Ruining our family, ruining ME! How could you do this to me! How could you be so selfish!?"

"What?! No…that's not…"

"Don't try to deny it! You were always jealous of me! Tony was _mine_! And then you had to jump right in did ya!? Humiliating me in front of hundreds, stealing Tony's attention from me so that you can have him for yourself! You're nothing but an inconsiderate, selfish, attention-seeking bitch, who just wants the spotlight all for _yourself_!" Darla punctuates each sentence by stepping closer to Pepper, who is both frightened at the sight yet angered at each word that left the other woman's mouth. During all of this, Artemis just looks away.

"Well poor little Pepper. Did you think he'd ever fall for someone like you? You're nothing but our little Cinderella, and that's all you'll ever _be_!" She emphasizes that with a hard slap to Pepper's face that makes Artemis jump and wince, and Pepper's head snap to the side, "And you better remember that." Pepper is stunned and doesn't move, gasping for breath from the shock.

"I just can't believe it," Agatha shakes her head as if she is truly _disappointed_ in Pepper, "After everything I've done for you, this is how you repay me? Oh Virginia. You know, when you're father died, I did not have to take you in. I could have just given you to social services, but I thought that for once you could be useful. So you owe me. I let you stay in my house and keep your mangy pets, I provided for you, and I…"

"You _what_," Pepper's low, hateful voice stops Agatha in her tracks. Pepper slowly looks up at both Darla and Agatha and glares at them with so much anger and hatred, they almost backed away, "Since when have you ever provided for me. Last I recall, I paid for my own college tuition and for everything I have. I owe you _nothing_! This is not _your_ house, this was my family's! Yet you all act as if you own it from the start...as if you own ME!

"I did everything you ever told me to do and I have put up with you for years! _I'm_ the one that has been working two jobs while keeping this house from falling apart. _I_ bought your groceries and fed you every single day! And you use my money for your clothes and s**t, or did you forget!?

"And you know what?! I hate you all! I never liked you or felt anything for any of you! In fact, the only reason I decided to stay around this long was because I know that you would ruin everything my family worked so hard for! The house, the art gallery… _they're_ the only things keeping me in this hell hole! But now I've had it! I don't care anymore! I'm _leaving!_ And if my parents are here, they would not want me to spend another second with you pathetic excuses for human beings!"

Agatha, who has been utterly stunned through Pepper's entire outburst, finally finds her voice, "You can't!"

"Just try to stop me!" Pepper then makes a beeline towards her room, pushing pass Artemis, who didn't bother to try to stop her.

"You're nothing without us!" Darla screams only for Pepper to flip her off before going into her room. There, she pulls out a small suitcase and begins to fill it with some spare change of clothes and other important necessities. She then hears the sound of scurrying footsteps as Lucky and Sugar run into her room. Never before has she been so thankful to see them both as she throws her arms around them.

She then remembers about her wallet and the flash drive, which were in her purse, and turns to grab it, only to face a furious Darla and Agatha as the former holds her purse in her hand.

"You will not be going anywhere," Agatha seethes as she slams the door in Pepper's face and locks it from the outside.

"Hey! You can't do this to me!" Pepper rushes to the door and bangs on it with her fists. Lucky begins to bark and growl crazily, and Sugar hisses at the door too. But both women on the other side just smirk.

"Yes we can, and we just did," Darla taunts.

"I'm calling the cops!" Pepper threatens but is only met with laughter.

"Not without a phone you can't," Agatha says, which makes Pepper pat her pockets to find that it is true. Her cell phone is in her bag. "And unless you want _me_ to call the authorities and tell them how you stole my money and valuables, you'll stay in your room and think about your place in this family."

Pepper could not believe Agatha and Darla had the gall, "You're both crazy!" Lucky and Sugar growl in agreement, but Agatha and Darla just laugh. Pepper then remembers the flash drive and panics, "Please, give me my bag! You don't understand, you're putting all of us in danger!"

"Oh please Pepper, you're so full of yourself," Darla replies back with a laugh, "And as if we're going to fall for your lies anymore."

"That's right. From now on, you're going to be working from home. You'll quit your job at Stark Industries and stay home to work. We'll be keeping an eye on you," Agatha adds harshly as she and Darla chuckle and walk away.

"You can't keep me in here! You can't hold me like this!" But all her screams are for naught. Grunting in frustration, Pepper looks around her room to try to find a way out. Sugar hops onto the window sill and gestures to it. "The window is rusted shut. Besides, I _need_ my bag and the flash drive."

Both Lucky and Sugar look at her in confusion, and Pepper just pets them to comfort them. In a way, they are also comforting her, "What am I going to do? The drive has all the evidence I need to expose Stane, his illegal deals and sales, his plot to murder Tony, his involvement in the murder of Howard, and his… I just…" That's when the events of one of the longest days of her life finally come crashing down on her. As her adrenaline rush from earlier fades, she collapses onto ground and sobs into her hands. Fear, loneliness, betrayal, hurt, and sadness flood her mind as she curls into a ball.

As her sobs wrack her body, Lucky lies next to her, whining as it feels its owner's turmoil. And Pepper throws her arms around her dog.

"I just don't know what I am going to do," Pepper mumbles through her sobs, "First, I learn that Howard was murdered, and Tony is going to be as well by Stane. Then I lied and stole classified documents … then Natalie turned out to be a spy and was lying to me … everyone is hunting me down … for all I know, I might get _killed_…and now this …" Pepper buries her face into Lucky's fur. Never before, had Pepper felt this frightened and betrayed. She is literally _trapped_ and …

"NO! I can't give up, not now…" Pepper hesitantly declares as she sits up and wipes the tears from her face. Crying and sitting around aren't going to save her or Tony. She has to move now and get away from the city. She doesn't know where she can go, but all she does know is that she has to get away from the city and contact the right authorities somehow. Hopefully they would believe her.

Her musings are interrupted by a knock on the door, followed by a rattling of the door knob. "Who's there?" Pepper asks hesitantly.

The door then opens to reveal a timid Artemis as she steps into the room, "It's me."

"Artemis," Pepper rushes up and hugs the young, confused woman, "What are you doing?"

"I'm getting you out of here," Artemis whispers harshly as she shuts the door, "Listen, I'm so so sorry for getting you into this mess. I thought I was helping you and I want to help you and … I'm so sorry, I panicked and I…"

"Shhh…" Pepper soothes her as she brings her into another, comforting hug, "It's okay. I don't blame you. But why are you helping me now?"

"Because Darla and my mom have crossed the line. This is beyond crazy… locking you in here. I'm sorry I couldn't stop them sooner but I just…"

"You couldn't go against your family…it's okay…"

"No, it's not okay…not when it goes this far. But listen, you don't have a lot of time," she then shows Pepper her purse, which she takes gratefully, shuffling through it to find her phone and everything in it, including the flash drive, "The car keys are also in there. You have to go now. I know someone who might be able to help you. His name is Rhodey, and he lives pretty close to the coast. He's part of the military, so he might be able to help you should Agatha turn to the authority…"

"Wait, isn't he Tony's friend?"

"Yes, so Tony might be able to help you too. If that really was you the other night at the ball, then you can finally be with him…"

"I don't know Artemis…I can't …" Pepper realizes that this could be her chance to finally warn Tony. But it's still too risky…especially if there are people hunting for her that might also be after Tony … but maybe … no, that would only put them all in danger. Everyone is looking for _her_ since she has the flash drive, and not anyone else. Even if Nat knows about her step family, she believes that Pepper doesn't trust them to go to them … so she knows what she has to do. "Artemis…I want you to listen to me very carefully … I'm not going to Rhodey, but I want you to. Take this drive and hold onto it no matter what. Then I want you to go to Rhodey and Tony and give this to them and show it to them, but make sure no one else sees it or knows about it."

"Why? What's happening?! What's in this Pepper," Artemis is frightened now, and it shows as she looks at the flash drive as if it's going to burn her.

"Something very important. Just tell them that the content is from the computer of Obadiah Stane and that it is all real. Then, they should take it to the proper authorities and deal with it from there …"

"Pepper…"

"Please Artemis, this is very important, and I'm going to need you to trust me…please," Pepper looks pleadingly at Artemis, who is still frightened by the object Pepper is handing her.

Hesitantly, she reaches out and grasps the drive, "Okay…so all I have to do is give this to Rhodey and Tony…"

"Yes, and as soon as you can, but not until I leave…"

"What's going to happen to you…?" Artemis is hyperventilating now, but Pepper pulls her into a final hug to soothe her.

"I don't know. But it doesn't matter. I'll come back if I can, but for now…please…just do it for me."

Artemis and Pepper pull away, "I will."

"Thank-you," Pepper says as she wipes Artemis's tears.

"Hey!" both women turn to see the furious duo of Agatha and Darla, "What do you think you're doing!?"

"Go!" Artemis urges her.

Pepper nods and grabs her bag, along with an empty flash drive from her desk. But Agatha and Darla are already on to them and are about to stop her when Lucky and Sugar jump in front, baring their teeth and practically growling at the two. Pepper wastes no time and runs towards the door. Agatha swiftly kicks Lucky, but the dog just gets back up and growls, keeping the two from chasing after Pepper.

"Argh! Virginia! You won't get away with this! I'll call the cops! You can't escape from me!"

But Pepper pays no heed to their threats as she climbs into her car and drives off. Clutching her bag close to her, she makes her way out of the city.

Back at the house, the pets are still keeping Agatha and Darla at bay, who are too scared of the animals to move. Agatha and Darla then glare at Artemis, the former speaking up first in a low, harsh tone, "You have some nerve young lady."

"What you did … was wrong," she replies back with as much confidence as she posses facing her own mother and sister.

"What do _you_ know, you idiot child! You betrayed your own family…!"

"A family that sure has a nice way of showing their love. You have gone too far this time mom…"

"Don't you dare call me that! You are weak and pathetic. You're not my daughter."

Artemis just steps back in shock at her own mom's cold declaration. Taking a deep breath, she stands up straighter, "Then I guess I'm not your daughter…" with a nod towards Lucky and Sugar, Artemis leaves as well, much to the shock and indignation of her mom and sister.

* * *

Pepper has just made it to a quiet cross section. Her plan is to try to draw whoever is chasing her away from Artemis and the drive. So she decides that the best way to do it is to try to get out of the city as best she could. To say that she is scared is an understatement. She is terrified for a lack of better terms. Soon, _everyone_ would be on the hunt for her, and she knows that she cannot trust anyone. From the authority to almost any stranger, she can't trust any of them. She is on her own for now. With that comforting thought, she continues on her way.

* * *

On a particularly steep slope down, Pepper is so focused on the road that she doesn't notice a shadowy figure hiding from sight. This tall, muscular figure doesn't say a word but aims what seems to be a grappling hook launcher at the moving vehicle. Without a moment of hesitation, he pulls the trigger, firing the grappling hook and wire at the car. The hook tangles in the back axle of the car, causing the back tires to stop spinning.

Quickly detaching the line so that he wouldn't be dragged with the car, this figure watches as the car skids and goes out of control before crashing straight into a light post.

He then cautiously makes his way to the crashed vehicle, completely smashed in the front, its hood popped-up, and the light post bent over it. He spots the young woman within the vehicle hunched over the wheel. She appears to have several cuts to her head, and the impact of the wheel might have broken a few ribs. He quickly finds her purse and takes it, digging through it to find his goal. Once the flash drive is in his hands, he crushes it before pocketing it.

A moan from the woman catches his attention. _'So she is still alive?'_ he smirks darkly, _'Well not for long…'_

* * *

**AN: And cliffhanger. Also want to thank Winter Soldier Bucky for that wonderful cameo (yea, I'm not planning on bringing him back. So sorry).**

**Whew, what a rush. I have honestly no idea how in the f**k I was able to get this much down. But it's done, and that's 2 whole chapters for you guys to make up for the year of not updating. Again, I want to apologize greatly for this massive delay. And as much as I wish I can say it won't happen again, I can't. There are still my other stories to deal with, plus school work and work work, along with so many more ideas I want to explore and write. **

**Basically, I don't know what the future holds for this story, but I have a basic idea of where I want it to go. As for my next update…I just don't know. But know this: I am not going to give up on my first full-length story. It will end eventually, and I will see to it that it gets a conclusion. **

**So with that in mind, I'll see you all next time. **

**Peace**

**~FD **


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